Trump and the Republicans are in "grab as much loot" and "cause as much damage" as possible mode because they know that, come the midterm elections, they all turn into pumpkins!
3
Thank you
3
Guns in schools? How stupid of a solution is that? You can be certain Trump's son's school is well guarded. Too bad the rest of American kids can't squeeze in there with him.
2
The NRA has become a terrorist organization.
How else can you describe their sick twisting of the truth to favor more guns, more lethal accessories, and no regulations for them? They consistently take tragedy and twist it into a sales and marketing opportunity while simultaneously blaming the violence on liberals and "mental health" issues.
Today's NRA is nothing like the one founded to promote marksmanship, that pushed for regulations on the kind of weapons used to kill people. No, today's NRA is all about the type of guns that kill people. It's all about lies and untruths, all about exploiting people's fears and using them to foment dissent against all who oppose them. It's right-wing propaganda at its worst and most insidious.
It is straight from the Nazi playbook for turning a fringe radical group into the world's worst dictatorship. And now the NRA, through its creatures in the GOP and White House, is in control of all branches of our government. We are being run by an organization that supports terrorism in our schools and churches and public places. For that is what it is: Terrorism.
We must vote the NRA out of the government, and enact true common-sense gun legislation. This must stop. Now.
7
School as an impenetrable armed fort ~ what a fallacy. A shooter doesn't need to get into school to mow down students as they arrive in the morning or leave at the end of the day. He can just fire into open crowds, like the Las Vegas and Texas snipers.
It's the guns, stupid.
8
Because red state voters have disproportionate influence on Congress and the presidency due to the electoral college and senators per state, Gun reform is not going to happen legislatively. And, we can't use civil courts to go after the gun industry because George W Bush and his GOP congress passed the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
We can sue tobacco companies, railroads, lettuce producers - but we cannot take on the Gun industry in civil court because the federal government protects it from any kind of liability.
8
As a former educator, I am appalled at the thought that teachers , in addition to alll their other responsibilities, would be armed and able to attack a shooter . I think the schools should be locked and no one with any weapon (gun, knife, grenade) should be allowed in- I have visited schools where I was buzzed in and when I was admitted, there was a man with an automatic weapon right by the door! Cruz should NEVER have had access to any weapons! Sylvia
6
As many commenters who are not living in the USA have posted on various articles, we are truly baffled, in the most horrified way, that guns are God and your children are expendable. Heck, all your citizens are expendable, as long as you don't touch that gun. I don't even know what an 'active shooter drill' would look like...'drills' to the students in our schools mean either fire drills, or sports practice exercises. It breaks my heart that your children will never feel this level of safety.
9
Thank you, Ashley, for this insightful article. I wish our President and other leaders of our country would be as wise as you are.
6
Protecting classrooms from a culture so rife with guns will be hugely expensive. The current congress is not likely to put more money into public schools - even to save lives - since its ultimate goal seems to be the privatization of education (...along with healthcare, infrastructure, and research). The only exception appears to be the funding of military training for teachers, since this will serve the NRA-backed, overarching agenda, which feels more and more like the privatization of our military. Meanwhile, our privatized congress is immobilized from acting for the public good.
How has our society become so privatized ...so immunized against anything and everything "public"? How and when did our elected leaders change their allegiance from our common wealth to private wealth? Our nation needs both private wealth AND common wealth, but it is the role of our legislators to protect each from the excesses of the other.
If private security (gun ownership) begins to threaten the effectiveness of our common security (police/military/rule or law), then our republic slips toward anarchy.
5
Perhaps Trump would prefer building a big beautiful wall around every school building. Provide TSA type guards at all entrances. That would solve two problems.
It would keep our students safe and satisfy Trump by getting his wall.
3
Great piece. Thank you for mentioning DeVos. I’m sure she’d like her brother’s company, Blackwater, get the contract to arm and train the teachers.
3
Create videos showing plausible scenarios.
Man walks into a classroom with an AR-15 pointed at teacher. Teacher can of course find the concealed weapon, take it out, point it at the man and with one shot take the man down. That is written to be bitterly sarcastic. I believe a video simulation would show that Donald Trump engages in magical thinking.
Why propose the creation of such videos? To get one shown on Fox TV to see what response such might elicit from Twitterman DT. I cannot myself imagine how he would respond, perhaps a reader or two might do so. Would like to see what NYT rhyming Larry might come up with.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
1
I am not going to disparage the author nor will I dismiss her experiences. The question to ask is what kind of world do we want to live in? The tacit assumption is that we will always have assult rifles in our lives and that there will be continuing shootings at various venues. Therefor we need to "harden" our venues. Why not eliminate the threat? There is no civian need for an AR 15 or similar type weapon and the various modifications to make it more leathal. Banning the assult rifle removes the weapon of choice for these shooters. If the shooter has to choose a less powerful weapon it will put the shooter and the police on a more even footing. The destructive force of the AR 15 bullets is somethoing that belongs in war zones not school zones. Let us get to the real problem of these leathal weapons, freely available. Occam's razor should be applied not the knee jerk "hardening".
4
Anyone who believes that arming teachers would do anything to stop a mass killing at a school is living in a fantasy world.
The police do not go running into an active shooting scene with their handgun clutched in their hand. The military in an area where there is or has been shooting proceed cautiously and are armed with military grade weapons.
The idea that arming teachers would make a difference is such complete and utter nonsense that it is totally absurd it is given even a moment serious consideration. Wayne LaPierre and anyone else who suggests arming teachers as a means of preventing the kind of situation that happened at Parkland is either an idiot or a monster who believes that all the rest of us are idiots.
It's a FANTASY, folks. It is not worthy of one moment of discussion. The kids get it. And they are also absolutely correct that we adults have let them down.
7
This is the second first-person opinion piece helping us visualize the new cultural reality of U.S. schools (the other being the article by the radiologist about the effect of ammunition on the human body.) Add to that the preposterous notion of armed educators. I can’t begin to imagine the everyday mindset that our kids bring to school with them.
3
A beautifully written article, authored by someone with unequivocal expertise. Unfortunately, her voice will go as unheeded as the pleas of thousands before her. How can we as a nation be so stupid as to ignore the overwhelming evidence showing that manufacturing and owning more guns does NOT equate to safety? But then, we as a nation are ruled by a tiny minority of slaves to the NRA and its gun worship.
3
What Republicans and the NRA are trying to create is an obedient, militarized police state, the end of all true freedom. When you cower in fear of death, you are never free.
4
Because guns don't kill, but bullets do, why not have bullet rationing as we did with so many things during WW2???? You cannot kill with a firearm unless you have a bullet. Let all who desire own firearms....as many as they want of any kind. But just one or two bullets.
1
Wonderful writing! Thank you!
2
So if a teacher accidently shot Wayne's grandson (or great grandson), he's be ok with that
4
republicans are in the thrall of gun manufacturers. they should be ashamed.
3
Bravo - well said.
2
Our politicians - notably in this article Rounds and DeVos - will not offer sensible options in this debate so long as they are kept above the fray. I suggest that Capitol Police and whatever flavor of security details be withdrawn from the Senate and federal office buildings. The politicians and their aides can be given training in firearms (which they can afford to buy, just like the teachers), and protect themselves and their office staff.
Will this solve anything? No, but it may give a few of the thoughtful people in DC some necessary perspective as to why their proposals are terminally asinine.
5
Very well put Ashley. Thank you for perhaps the most level-headed statement to date. Would you please run for President? You would make an excellent upgrade!!
2
A cart of iPads strategically placed for use as a potential barrier. Butcher paper covering windows. Tourniquets tucked into lap drawers. Children carrying bullet proof back packs. A serious proposal to arm teachers. And the NRA says "elites don't care one whit about school children."
And we call this country civilized.
2
Why stop at guns in schools. Why not at the mall, hospital, on the train, at the hotel,.... Gotta love those freedoms. Freedom to be shot anywhere. As an Australian one can only marvel at the madness. America is starting to look like Fallujah.
2
What I meant in point 2 is NO DIRECT SECOND HAND SALES ,THEY SHOULD GO THROUGH THE POLICE AND 6 ILLEGAL GUN OWNERSHIP SHOULD BE A FELONY
1
The teens from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, and every other schoolchild in America need a solution to a problem that for far-too-long has had only empty lip-service—and precious little of that. They need our involvement to prevent the inane responses from politicians, the NRA, and gun-owners from extinguishing their drive.
The place to begin is with all companies that manufacture automatic and semi-automatic weapons—not that they will be moved to any reasonable action by the heart-breaking, well-reasoned arguments of students who have witnessed the nightmare of a massacre or the parents who have sent their children to school one morning never to return home again. Nor will politicians do their job to help solve the insanity this nation faces with gun violence. And a boycott of their products won’t work for obvious reasons: gun-lovers will still buy them.
The only thing that will work is to hit them in their pocket-books. The manufacturers of these weapons that are produced to do only one thing—kill large numbers of living things as rapidly as is humanly impossible without these weapons—know that that is their purpose. They must be held responsible for the carnage that results from their use. If they don’t make such weapons, mass murders can’t buy them, gun shops can’t sell them, and children might not have to fear going to school.
It's time to start some law suits against these folks. Where is the well-heeled law-firm that is willing to go to battle for America's kids?
2
The Op-Ed is horrifying and achieves exactly the opposite of its intended purpose. Expecting each teacher to become a soldier, as the writer clearly does, is the most damning evidence that the U.S. should remove its 350 million guns in private hands, as is the case in all OECD countries (except notably for Swiss reservists).
Australia gave gun owners a 3 month amnesty to turn in their weapons, and over 50,000 weapons were handed in. Australia has the world's strictest gun laws that have prevented a single mass murder since the laws were imposed.
Guns kill. And the self-serving NRA encourages the U.S. killing fields. The NRA is an organization of mass murderers. They don't pull the trigger, but they ensure that many do.
Uh, Hamid, she did just the opposite! She laid out a scenario of what could happen if teachers were armed . Then she stated pretty emphatically, why that would br a VERY BAD idea! Read the article again, please.
4
As someone watching on from afar the insanity of the firearm proliferation in USA is bewildering. I have never applied for a gun licence and never would. Why? Because (apart from not having a valid reason) I recognise the chances of myself or my family being threatened by someone with a firearm are so miniscule as to be irrelevant. Why? Because I trust our legal system has the necessary checks and balances to prevent the issue of these weapons without a valid reason, mainly farmers to control vermin.
As a community that is the default position. The community is much stronger and cohesive for that position.
I don't think other countries look on with envy at USA gun laws. There is just a resignation that as long as you vote for pro-gun politicians you will reap what you sow. I know little of USA politics, but surely no matter how well politicians are funded by the NRA nobody is forcing you to vote for them??
Maybe a little more humility in accepting that that the USA is not always right and the rest of the world wrong. And if you don't care what anyone else thinks, then that might be the problem in a nutshell.
I know Australia had the Port Arthur massacre many years ago, but just google for photos of the piles of guns that were handed in in the gun amnesty. The community made it clear to the government that such incidents were not acceptable in Australia, the government faced down the interested parties and acted in the greater good.
2
An armed teacher would make that teacher the first one to be singled out for 'elimination' by a gunman when he bursts into a classroom
2
The element of surprise is with the gunman. Unless your gun is drawn you may as well have a pea shooter. If you believe that the solution to violence is a "good guy with a gun" keep your gun locked and loaded at all times and able to react within 10 seconds or less and ask questions later? Is that the American way? Have gun loving NRA members lost a sense of logic. By arming teachers, instilling in them and their students a hyper vigilance that the potential for a shooter entering their building is great they are creating a war zone mentality. Is there any time left to focus on learning? La Pierre claims that Bloomberg, Steyer, etc of the socialist left are against freedom-loving patriots.
The legacy broadcasters agenda works against their "fair and balanced" Fox News,
Daily Stormer and Alex Jones and those who are predicting that unless we take up arms the sky will fall. The free world is watching and wondering what is becoming to our 'democracy "
All for the price of a well-regulated militia?
2
Follow the money. Who gets it if even more guns are sold. What a inane idea.
1
We forget that arming teachers is probably a red herring put out by the NRA and their enablers to muddy the waters and get us talking and arguing about something other than the main issue: Removing military weapons from society.
3
Could have added another sentence and mentioned that it is still the Chickenhawks in charge
2
We should do as you indicate.
The government is constrained in its actions by what is politically possible. People who work to shape the politically possible should keep the health of the country in mind as they go about their work. The interests people seek to advance or defend do not justify employing ways and means that harm the country as a whole.
Maybe we should start requiring mandatory military service for 18 year olds, as is done in some other countries. Not only would this provide a grounding in military tactics that everyone would eventually possess and be able to draw from in their adult lives, it would also expose kids to non-traditional career options in trade areas they might not otherwise be exposed to. It would also provide a basis for creating a point of connection across our society which today is sorely absent. As an added bonus, it would forestall jumping straight into college debt mode, and give kids a chance to explore other options for their lives that they may well find more fulfilling.
It is with great sadness that I watch the US tearing itself apart. It is with great frustration that I watch its inability to learn from others.
No two countries are closer in their shared culture and history than Canada and the US. We up here look on with horror as you down there allow money to pervert and control your society, with off-the-scale gun deaths.
Why is it so hard to act? Because advertising (aka propaganda) works.
59
Background checks as effective gun control, didn’t stop Loughner, Cho, Roof, Holmes, Lanza, or Cruz. The NICS system uses phonetic matches and birth date matches only, resulting in nearly 3 million false positives and a handful of convictions nationwide. Obama, whom I admire, moved ATF agents responsible from roles fixing the false positives one at a time to other posts, so the work product got worse on his watch. How about qualifying searches with Social Security #s, addresses and physical descriptions like private security checks are required to do by law. Do the dead children deserve a functioning NICS dB? Why doesn’t the Times jump all over this issue? Doesn’t fit the narrative?
Shame!
1
It's so simple.
Just let the NRA pay for trained good guys with guns to stand guard and protect every school in America from bad guys with guns.
5
Didn't you see the article on the deputy who stayed outside doing nothing while kids were being shot? Give me a break. Your suggestion is ludicrous
1
Perhaps Trump will exempt teachers with "bone spurs" from having to enlist in these armed, "hardened", school units.
5
I taught for 30 years. Changing culture and human behavior is a slow laborious process. If you want to change a students life, it takes years of care. I can see why the GOP always proposes giving teachers guns. It’s much easier, quicker and cheaper. And hey, why not give extra money to train teachers that are actually willing to kill their students. Our president thinks it’s a great idea.
18
It is an historical fact that the gun industry jumped on the 2nd Amendment after WWI as a ploy to extend the war boom in armaments manufacture. Guns in America are an addiction fed by the psychopathology of greed.
14
And unlike all other industries, they are the only business (and their lobbyists) in the US that is protected from any kind of liability.
Thank you GOP and George Bush for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). We can't go after these murderers in civil courts.
2
It's all about young men with access to guns. 2000 years ago, an angry Roman male would sweep through a crowd with a knife and kill, but he could be brought down. AR15? Not much. A good part of this nation, because of the wild West romanticism and NRA, is addicted to guns.
3
Since 2000, there have been fifty plus mass gun massacres in this country - most carried out not by terrorists or immigrants, but by ordinary citizens who had access to weapons of mass destruction. Hundreds of innocent, men, women and children killed because the NRA is 'protecting' our freedom. Out of this number of massacres, NONE, not a single one, was prevented nor mitigated by a civilian with another gun. The thought of adding more guns to an already far too violent society is just plain stupid. There is no need for more talk, discussions, etc. If you are a politician and you support the NRA, accept money from them and/or support civilian access to weapons of mass destruction, you're days in office are numbered. End of discussion.
9
At this rate, we are going to have to start paying our teachers combat pay. Our country is beginning to sound like Syria.
5
Let me see if I have this right. There WAS a good guy with a gun present. A trained and experienced good guy with the responsibility to defend. And yet, this tragedy happened. So much for the NRA's solution. The only solution is fewer guns. Especially military guns like the AK 15 designed for maximum death. Shame on the NRA and anyone who support them
10
A well regulated militia. Indeed.
2
I don't know if people are aware but America is the only country which requires people to take off their shoes before boarding an airplane. There is a total lack of acceptance of the fact that life has risks and being blown up in an airplane, or being killed by a maniac with a gun is one of the SMALLER ones. You are - really - more likely to drown in your own bathtub.
I remember a recent occasion with my baby grandson and his mother during a drive. He wanted to be nursed and started to cry. But Massachusetts law does not allow it. He HAS to be in a car seat and belted in. It is NOT OK for him to be in his mother's arms. So we had to let him cry for half an hour until we reached his house.
And I remember one contrasting occasion in a coffee shop in Israel. There was an explosion in the distance. People came out of the coffee shop and looked around. Then they went back into the cafe and resumed their conversation. After a few minutes there was a second explosion. At this people came out of the cafe and slowly wandered away. There was no panic.
I do not much like how Israel behaves with Palestinians. But Israelis DO have courage, a quality which Americans also had at one time.
And oh, I do support a ban on assault weapons in private hands. What I do NOT support is this sense of paranoia which is little more than cowardice, widely shared.
1
School shootings are horrifying --- and schools are not the only places vulnerable to an armed lunatic. Movie theaters, malls, grocery stores --- and the public thoroughfares themselves are at risk as potential targets too. The availability of guns and the sickness that seems to have permeated our society tells me that the entire social contract is at risk. Not only must we expect random attacks and shootings at school, but also while shopping, amusing ourselves or just strolling down the street.
I fear that the we, the public will have to defend ourselves and our most vulnerable members by becoming more aggressive and proactive in finding and neutralizing those who are planning or even pondering these terrible acts. The statements they make to family and friends or online, the purchases they make, the organizations they join and so forth may need to come under scrutiny by law enforcement in a more granular way; when public safety conflicts with the right to privacy, then safety will prevail, and we will come to live in a society closer to martial law, seeing our freedoms curtailed in order to root out and preempt potential murderers. What a sad state of affairs.
"....freedoms curtailed....." Yes, EXCEPT the freedom to own as many of every type of gun as one can get one's hands on.
2
This article makes today’s horrifying reality about America’s public schools all too obvious: they were not designed with the idea that at any moment they might become a combat zone and that today’s teachers are woefully unprepared to deal with an active shooter scenario. Even worse is the reality this emerging crisis situation is making clear: the levels of anger, rage, and violence in our society have grown to the point that our children, young innocents, are now considered a prime target for any deeply angry and alienated shooter to use as targets to vent his rage at the society that he feels has somehow or other wronged him.
America badly needs to deal with the underlying crisis of alienation in our society. We desperately need to start seeing one another as fellow human beings, brothers and sisters on the life journey, first here in America and secondly in the world at large. We need to reestablish the once strong and deep human bonds that linked us all together in one common civil society living at least peacefully, if not always happily, under a social contract.
Then, perhaps our public schools can safely return to their mission of educating and enlightening young minds.
1 Age to own a gun should be 30 minimum 2 All purchases should be done through the system ,NO SECOND HAND SALES 3 NO GUNS For people with mental problems or people that has been convicted 4 If you own a gun you are responsible for any harm caused by that gun 5 AUTOMATIC OR SEMI AUTO IS THE SAME THING IF YOU ARE SHOOTING UNARMED CITIZENS ,SO DO NOT WASTE TIME ON THIS MATTER
3
So please, we harden schools and arm teachers then was is next on the spiral to anarchy. The next phase is arming priest and pastors, followed by doctors and nurses. What shall we consider at any large public gathering? Is this the society we wish to exist within, a society of fear and paranoia solely to feed the arms manufactures of America.
5
Reading the headline initially I did not understand what it was about, I thought it was about fights among students. Only later I realized what it was about. The fact that in the US people are discussing survival techniques in the classroom shows in what state is the country because of its ridiculous weapon laws. What's even more scary is reading the comments (not on the NYT but more on Facebook), 90% in favour of allowing weapons freely. I doubt it can be solved if the majority of people think it this way, Americans are condemned to have the highest violent death rate after Venezuela or Afghanistan....
5
Recent reports say that the NRA is under FBI investigation for ties to the Deputy Director of the Russian Central Bank, an oligarch close to Putin.
It is alleged that the NRA illegally funneled Russian millions into US elections in 2016 with much of it going to Trump.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-07/the-nra-should-disclo...
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly investigating whether the NRA helped funnel money from Russians into the election, which would violate U.S. election law prohibiting the use of foreign money. In recent years the NRA has developed relationships with several well-connected Russians, including Alexander Torshin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin who is deputy governor of the Russian central bank."
If true that would be a criminal conspiracy with Russian spies by the NRA, among numerous other serious felonies.
3
And LaPierre is denigrating the FBI! Wonder why? Sounds like a Trump strategy to me.
1
Thanks for sharing your experience, it really sums up the America of today. To take it one step further the NRA and the GOP seem to want to make all of America an armed camp. At every turn their solution is bring more guns into the equation. They should take a page out of the play book of those old west towns they seem to want to bring back. When a town wanted to become civilized and attract families the first thing they did was to ban the carrying of guns in town, not pass out more! Yes, its true, having a solid background check and registration procedure in place and banning semi automatic weapon's will make some people mad however its the governments first job to protect us all, not to plan for the next election.
7
I agree with Ms. Nicolas. As a teacher, there is no need to arm yourself. I worked in a rough high school and a more peaceful school. I don't think arming myself in any situation is the answer. I have not been taught military skills. I know how to shoot, but the chance of using deadly force in an inappropriate situation is higher when a gun is present.
3
I was a teacher in the early sixties when we practiced duck and cover, meaning that students were supposed to duck under their chairs or tables in case of a nuclear attack. It wouldn’t have been effective but it seemed to calm the fears of parents. We don’t really have that threat now unless Trump incites a war with North Korea because then we did something about nuclear proliferation. We have a growing danger today of being shot by an assault weapon so we need to take steps to declare an assault weapon nonproliferation. No matter what we do, mental illness and just plain evil will exist. The only answer is to take away these very dangerous weapons or let people be victimized by these slaughters. For those who cry, but...the Second Amendment. No, that Amendment only guarantees the right to bear arms. It doesn’t give anyone the right to bear assault weapons. LaPierre’s speech at CPAC was irrational and paranoid. I hope that sincere conservatives will distance themselves from both CPAC and the NRA.
5
It is time to revisit the 2nd Ammendment. The NRA is so well ensconced in our politics that the only way is to rid ourselves of pro- gun law makers is to vote them out. I'm hoping that these kids from Florida will continue as the vanguard of sensibility that they have already shown themselves to be.
6
"As children and parents appear on TV begging for action, our elected officials insist that even the best gun control and safety reforms would not eliminate attacks."
As always: ..., our REPUBLICAN elected officials ....
This is not even partisan, just a fact.
6
Arming teachers with what? You're going to send a teacher, even one well-trained in taking down a terrorist, up against a kid whose got nothing to lose and is armed with an AK-47? This is what you call the arms race. No, even the most hardened gun advocate wouldn't like those odds. So, what happens, perhaps teachers should be issued vests as a part of their classroom apparel. No, that's not enough...let them haul their own AK-47 around with chalk in hand. Is it a 'fair' fight now? We'll just have to see have after the smoke clears.
4
Do you really want your child to grow up and go to school in a fortified military style installation?
We didn't. So why should they? What's really different today from when we went to school?
Sure there were fights and roughhousing and occasionally students got hurt. But no one in my school ever bled out from bullet fragments.
What is different now from then is we are awash with guns, so that a playground fist fights have evolved into schoolyard shoot outs. There are so many guns out there that it's impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.
But we have to try. The lives and future of our children depend on it. So let's start with the point where the majority of people agree, ban all assault rifles. They belong in the military, not our schools.
4
Like other gunmen who commit mass shootings, the one who went on a killing rampage at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Florida had an obsession with guns and violence. Well, the same could be said of American culture, couldn’t it? Yes, it’s true that "we need to arm our teachers- with effective gun control, comprehensive background checks, better information-sharing between local and federal authorities, engaged parents and school-sponsored mental health care providers to identify troubled students before they become killers." But it’s unrealistic to expect mental health care providers or school personnel to deal with the human byproducts of our own culture gone wrong when this society and its militaristic aggression, love of guns, and addiction to high definition, state of the art combat games only encourages violent thinking and behavior. We need to take a closer look at the sickness of our own society and how we got here.
2
People who advocate for more guns and armed teachers in school should get away from their TV for a while, watch fewer action movies, and instead get some real-life experience. It might help if we re-introduced the draft so that people get some real experience about weapons, their deadly character and their limitations.
One more question: Who would pay for the bonuses for the arms-trained teachers? Is this an unfunded mandate?
1
The problem is indeed not with guns or people but with guns in the wrong hands. Guns in the hands of criminals or guns in the hands of untrained teachers. In this context I believe there is an underestimated aspect about guns ubiquity in the US. It is often mentioned that even the very restrictive guns laws in Europe do not prevent determined criminal from acquiring guns. That is correct, but the fact that acquiring guns is difficult and that few people have one makes criminality less lethal actually. Armed criminals in Europe are of the professional type. Not the occasional petty ones or the lunatics who want to go on a rampage. And because they are professionals, they manage their guns "professionally" and use them sparingly (except for terrorists of course). Also, they know guns are rare and that they won't encounter much resistance from their unarmed victims, so shooting really becomes the unintended exceptional circumstance. Compare that with the US where every occasional drug dealer has 3 guns just in case he's threatened by a customer who has himself 3 guns too, and where every law-abiding citizen has 4 guns just in case someone trespasses on their lawn. You have there a situation where obviously bullets fly more often, as indicated by higher gun-shot mortality. I doubt this rate will go down by arming teachers...
Unfortunately, the Republican legislatures at the state and Federal government level, have been so conditioned for so many years that gun rights are sacred, they can't comprehend that they might be wrong. The underlying ironic belief is that everyone has the right to self-protection and this means everyone has the right to have a gun. How can you dispute this? Well, in conditions of war, the priority is group-protection instead,and that's the situation in a mass shooting. But we are not at war in a school, unless a crazy person comes in armed as if at war, with a AR-15. The sacred right should be group protection, not self-protection. And that means no more armaments of war.
Several performers and roadies at the Las Vegas shooting said that they carried guns. They decided not to use them for fear of being taken for the active shooter, either by the police, or by another individual.
Likely a wise choice. Only a ban on assault weapons could have stopped the carnage of 59 innocent people in Las Vegas. Only a ban on assault weapons could have stopped the slaughter of 17 innocent teachers and students in Florida.
Arming teachers may change WHO gets killed in an active shooting situation, but I doubt it will change how many get killed.
Thank you, Ms. Nicolas, for your service.
2
Presumably, the purpose of arming personel in schools is to enable them to kill attackers. I wonder, though, if this strategy wouldn’t increase the gross number of victims.
Some School shooters, as in Columbine, launch their attacks with the hope that they will be killed and go out in a blaze of glory. In the imagination of the relvant cohort, would the thought of a gunfight with Mr. or Mrs. Teacher become a temptation and lure more of them into acting out their fantasies.
Thus, though armed teachers might reduce the number of victim students in a particular school attack, the number of such schools under attack, and the overall number of victims, might increase.
How bizarre to even be considering such calculations.
I weep for what our nation has become.
2
Thank you for this honest piece from someone with measured experience. I, too think about where to send my students, how to barricade both doors and about the large wall of windows which should offer only the threat of daydreaming.
When schools become militarized, I will no longer be serving the kids and profession I love.
That we cannot see the absurdity in the argument that we arm teachers is our greatest failure of our children. Someday, our citizens will read of this in horror of our backwardness.
Would Donald Trump have invited you to a meeting like the Wednesday meeting he held with a few students from the Parkland school (7 spoke, do not know if others were there) and a number of people with no Parkland connection? Of course not.
I raise this question because the Times reporter, Julie Hirschfield Davis, showed not the slightest interest in telling us how Trump's staff selected the 7 students and others to come to talk with him, presumably to show his wilingness to discuss his proposal.
Six of the 7 openly expressed their support for Trump. If Trump takes his proposal further we rely on you to take your key paragraph "But our legal system...should not be a partisan issue" to those who perhaps at first glance find Trump's proposal appealing but who can be taught. Don't waste your time on the Rubio's. Let's hope there are some open to reason. Maybe even the 6 of 7 who praised Trump.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
You are right about this, Ashley.
I proposed this after the CT massacre... and got shouted down by well meaning people who didn't want to face the world as it is... and only dreamt of getting back to a world that was long gone.
Our new world should be protecting our most valuable assets with the greatest and most formidable commitment to deter further catastrophe.
Daryl
Daryl's Roadside Honor System Vegetable Stand and Dairy Produce
Maybe the teachers should pack heat, if only to wake the people up to the madness of this "debate."
I have enormous respect for Ms Nicolas' service as a soldier and teacher and find her observations insightful. But let's get perspective: the US is the most advanced country in the world, yet we have now accepted that the basic function of governance -- the collective protection of people from violence -- has failed. It as assumed that we now have to privately and individually ensure defense. And all this not because we are attacked by enemy combatants or are torn asunder by civil war, but because we have to fear a handful of random teen lunatics with high-powered weapons. The 2nd amendment debate goes to the heart of governance -- the state monopoly of violence. That is why it is so contentious but critical to the future of US democracy.
It's much worse than you think, Ashley...consider these words:
:We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States..."
Preamble of the Constitution which states six things the US government mus provide to our country. Note that unlike the NRA, the Founding Fathers wanted only to secure blessings of liberty and never wanted to make them the only thing the government had to do (or not do).
No one remembers the other five. What does that mean?
The United States of America is a failed state because it's government is incapable of meeting all six obligations it has to its citizens.
It's not a gun thing. The problem we have in this country is much, much worse than that.
"Yes, we need to arm our teachers — with the support of effective gun control, comprehensive background checks, better information-sharing between local and federal authorities, engaged parents and school-sponsored mental health care providers to identify troubled students before they become killers."
No. We don't. Vermonters' have a saying, "You can't get there from here." No doubt, people will be lulled by your rational tone and, of course, your "service"; but what you are advocating is educational and moral failure. Saving lives is paramount, but it is not the only issue: Whom we want to be as a nation is just as important. But have no fear, "fear" is going to win out. All you "responsible" gun owners are going to get your way. And NO TIME AT ALL will pass before we are reading about "teachers" shooting unarmed student because—drumroll—"I feared for my life."
What bothers me most is not your guns; but that there is literally NO PLACE for those of us who want ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH GUN OWNERS to go. Your sickness cannot be escaped; and who will not be satisfied until you have infected the entire society with your love of bloodshed. (Kandahar, indeed; I'll bet that existential hole in you is as deep as it ever was.)
The problem with arming teachers is you then have a single source of defense who is then an open target. Teachers also are not trained to have the mentality of a ready defender... unless you send them through military basic training. No, arming teachers won’t keep our students safe, but arming our students will! If each student were to sign out a .22 caliber pistol each morning, each classroom would then become a strong defensive position. A live shooter entering an armed classroom would be faced with a fusillade of bullets. Students in adjoining classes, hearing the gunfire could easily set up defensive perimeters, free fire zones, and send student patrols out into the halls on recon patrols. Recess could become Remedial Sharpshooter Training and Reenforcement. Kids who still couldn’t shoot straight, might have to stay after school, out at the range, honing their marksmanship to Protect and Defend the Homeroom. And, instead of sending restless kids to the Office, teachers would send them out to patrol the school’s perimeter. Field trips would look like combat patrols, honors students would wear their expert rifleman’s (rifleperson’s?) badge on the left side of their graduation gown, moving it to the right side as they were handed their diplomas.
We’d breathe a sigh of relief knowing our kids are safe because they’re in school, now the safest place for a child to be.
1
An Armed Deputy put At The School To Protect Students and Confront Shooters Ran and Took Cover Outside! Yet, Teachers are expected to get trained in urban combat techniques, and go hunting down student shooters? What about all the screaming, panicked kids milling about? What if the Teacher hits and kills one?!
The Cop can run, but Teachers got to stay and fight! Seriously? So much for the "put armed cops in schools" solutions that the NRA loved. This shows our Madness in full! This is insane!
2
There is a headlong rush to more gun control, I understand the impulse, I have no faith gun control approaches the problem. For 200+ years the country has been, by and large, free of mass shootings. For the last 20 years not so much.
Changes in gun laws will give politicians cover, changes in gun laws will not get one iota closer to understanding and addressing what is staring us in the face.
What has gone wrong? Get to the bottom of the question before going off in some half-baked direction because it feels good to do something, even if pointless.
4
I fully understand the cries of defenders of the second amendment who fear their gun rights will be taken from them. I live in a very small rural town, where many folk hunt wild game - either for sport or for dinner. I am aware of the feelings people have in this area of being to care for themselves, due partly to the sparsity of law enforcement. (We have no police here, and depend totally upon the sheriff, 10 miles away).
But I cannot, for the life of me, understand why a person would want to possess an instrument of murder -- a tool capable solely of taking human life - a machine designed and built for warfare. The possession of such an item, unless heavily regulated by membership in a "well regulated militia" can not possibly be what the framers of our constitution had in mind when they wrote the ambiguous Second Amendment.
If the lawmakers in this country can find all sorts of excuses for forcing automobile insurance, drug control, clean air, fishing licenses, and any number of thousands of rules and regulations demanded of our citizens, surely they can find an area of control for the ownership of weapons of murder such as the AR15. These should be confiscated and banned from use in this country. Just as in fighting any disease, the first effort should be in preventing it. The ownership of weapons of war is a disease. We should do everything in our powers to eliminate them within our country.
A war is a totally different thing than everyday living.
15
I recall the school preparation in the early 1950’s for a nuclear attack—air raid drills, individual military style dog tags, and one time my whole elementary school evacuated by means of parents’ automobiles. As we learned in 1962, the threat was real. I retired from the US Army in 1989, having served in Vietnam and in terrorism counteraction for a number of years. I am a gun owner and target shooter. I am also a retired college professor from a state university system. I have concluded that AR 15’s and AK47 clones must be given the same legal restrictions of submachine guns and automatic rifles enacted in the 1930’s. “Assault weapons” are compact and easily concealed as was the one used in the Florida shooting. They may be loaded with 30 round magazines. They are deadly at close range and have little hunting or target-shooting application. The penalties for possessing full-automatic weapons are serious and include big fines and jail time. However, those laws essentially ended private possession of full-automatic firearms and took them out of the hands of gangsters. Outlawing AR 15’s and similar weapons will not happen in the near future. These weapons cost upward of $1,500 a few years ago. Now they are less than $500 and ubiquitous in ownership. Restriction ownership and availability of these weapons would certainly curb the lethality of these deadly attacks when combined with active and passive security measures that do not include arming teachers.
5
What's next? Arming all students, because arming the teachers didn't produce the hoped for results? Where is this armament escalation leading us?
How is this defense of the 2nd amendment working for us? Not well, I would say. We can see the results, and they are indefensible. Why is its defense so dogmatic? If the constitution were a dogma, there would be no amendments at all in the first place. So, once we allow for amendments like the 2nd, then we can allow for amendments of the amendments.
Time to look at other countries, to see what has worked better in similar situations (Australia comes to mind).
8
This isn't even about the Second Amendment - that's the biggest lie out there. It's about the money made from selling guns.
2
I finished high school in 1060. In all the time I attended, from first grade to being a senior, there was never any thought given to the possibility that we might come under armed attack.
NONE.
So, something has changed between now and then, and that "something" is the widespread distribution of a weapon devised for military use being in widespread distribution, and the inclination of some to use it against groups of people. Once that combination is "out here," any effort of "hardening the target" would just lead to a ratcheting evolution of effort between those who would do it, and those who would defend.
The Secret Service understands that no matter what they do, if someone is willing to trade his life for that of one of their principals, this is indefensible.
It's the combination of means and intention that is the problem. At the very least, we should remove the means.
14
I thought high schools were relatively new. What else was different almost a thousand years ago?
Listening to the deranged NRA rants at CPAC and the rousing cheers from the audience tells us we have a right wing political base in this country that is dangerous. The NRA does a great job of convincing gun owners that any effort at reasonable gun control means someone is coming to confiscate their guns. The result is it is politically impossible to do the right thing. It will likely take an uprising from young people like those speaking out in Florida and a repeat of 60’s type protests to achieve political change.
19
"Thou Shall Not Kill." This fundamental principle, has been heart-breakingly muted in our culture. "Thou Shall Not Kill...." Simple to understand, simple to believe, simple to teach. How often are our children being taught this? Evidently not enough, not clear enough, not loud enough, not strongly enough. Emphatically: "Thou Shall Not Kill." I pray to you my friends, and readers, and all people, that you share this message at every given opportunity. We win the battle against Evil, by converting it. We fortify our strength as humanity, when our leaders, teachers, and parents, stop the bleeding, by fortifying our values and our Souls. "Thou Shall Not Kill."
5
You're kidding, right? You expect a NYC school teacher to use a quote from a religious text, The Ten Commandments? Have forgotten? The courts took God and his Word out of the schools 50 years ago.
It seems like full circle: fifty years ago I had the dubious honor of being repeatedly drilled at elementary school with duck-and-cover exercises in the very real anticipation of nuclear war. Living in San Diego with one of nation's biggest military facilities, I knew that we would be top on the list of targets.
Those drills were dead serious, and for many years in my childhood I had horrible nightmares of either being vaporized (while cowering under my school desk as instructed) or slowly dying a hideous death of radiation poisoning.
Fifty years later there is the same hysteria and terror gripping young students - their imminent murder without notice. In fact, more students die from guns than nuclear bombs, or Islamic terrorists, yet the President of the United States is advocating guns for every teachers in anticipation of the next big shoot-out at a school near you. The country's priorities have gone clear off the rails.
12
America's Public Schools have been 'War Zones' for Years. Bullying has been around since the dawn of Time, and the Bullied carry the Scars for Life. Some Fight back, and sadly that now includes Armed Reprisals.
America's Public Schools
Are A Boot camp for PRISON; or
A Challenge for Over Achievers.
Those in the Middle? Fodder!
Don't like what I'm Saying?
Gun Control won't work. Look at You Tube. 3D Printers, Cap & Ball Weapons, Bombs, Etc.
Can anyone say "Behavioral Sink"? The internet has made the world a whole lot smaller; but not any less over populated.
Answers? Nothing anyone would want to Hear. But putting the blame on things which were here 50 years ago, without the Media Hype of today, and little issue, isn't it.
Just Say'n
1
And if we need to do this in schools, what about movie theatres, churches, swimming pools, outdoor country music concerts? We've had mass shootings there too. In the end, America will be an armed fortress.
41
As a mental health professional, I can guarantee you my practice will be booming if we do this! Anxieties, fears and phobias will skyrocket, for good reason. Prescription meds for stress reactions will be in every medicine cabinet. Big Pharma should join with the NRA on this one, profits will pour in. Great idea, let’s make America a war zone!
What have workers done when conditions warrant it? They go off the job and go on strike.
Maybe that's what students should do, besides demonstrating. Go on strike. Skip school, stay out of schools and colleges until the instruments of the mass shootings in schools are disbanded. No more AR-15s
4
Just as test prep and chaarter companies absorb tremendous amounts of money (thanks "A Nation at Risk" and NCLB) I foresee a cottage industry arising of school security "consultants" and gear sourcing "vendors" if this "idea" takes root.
5
The idea to arm teachers has nothing to do with student safety and everything to do with increasing gun, ammunition, and accessory sales.
The NRA may even gain members who might take advantage of membership discounts.
It's all about the money.
11
I have taught in Israel for 40 years.
I used to own a handgun, vetted, licensed, and practiced.
After a while I got rid of it, legally of course, and for two reasons. I had children at home and was afraid of accidents. I also came to the conclusion that my handgun would be of little value against terrorists using automatic weapons. My limited military training did not make me confident with a weapon. I was not a bad shot, standing still slowly taking aim. I, and the world around me, were better off when I became gunless.
Institute gun control, stop selling weapons like candy and have better external security. Teachers should teach and that's all.
74
With the solution from the NRA and our Stable Genius to arm our teachers, we have brought the endless wars home. Archie Bunker is a new cabinet member in this administration, I suppose. Remember the episode when Archie advocated stopping highjacks by handing out guns to all the airplane passengers? What was a comedy show is now our government, only it isn't funny and we are killing ourselves.
Thank you for your op ed, Ashley Nicolas.
Signed
A retired teacher and daughter who teaches.
8
Why not build schools like prisons. Tall walls, layers of locked doors, armed guards, and everyone gets a pat down before entry. There has never been a mass shooting in a penitentiary. After the schools are safe, then start hardening other public spaces, parks, concert venues, restaurants, churches, and ball fields. Then require bulletproof cars, establish checkpoints at mass transit entries and exits like airports. With a little effort and a lot of money opportunities for a gunman could be limited.
4
I'm a high school teacher and I can safely say that there is no place for a gun in a school. If people want to add metal detectors at the entrances, go right ahead. Try these things FIRST and see what the results are.
1. Ban assault weapons and bump stocks.
2. Expand background checks to include a national data base that includes all police and federal law enforcement agencies.
3. Enforce background checks at gun shows with a police presence.
4. Ban all online gun sales because we all know that you can pretend to be anybody online.
5. Have schools screen all middle and high school students twice a year for depression, suicidal and homicidal urges. Inform parents of results and require follow-up for red flagged students.
6. Offer free counseling in schools (not guidance counseling).
7. Expand mental healthcare coverage for all.
When we've done all of these things and kept track of the results over an extended period (5 years?), if they have not significantly reduced school shootings - then you can talk about armed guards and arming teachers.
Don't do the easy, stupid thing first.
45
Online gun sales follow the same rules as a purchase in a store. The seller must transfer the weapon to a dealer near you with a Federal Firearm License. That dealer then must comply with all the state and federal rules such as having you apply for a purchase permit if required, fill in a federal form 4473 (required) and getting a clearance from the FBI's NICS office. (required) You'll also need to provide an official ID (You cant pretend to be someone else.(required) The dealer will then allow you to pick up your purchase so he can compare the picture on your ID with you in person. The same rules apply with an out of state purchase.
I really wish you people would familiarize yourselves with the rules in these matters.
My husband, Hank, has this NYTimes subscription. I'm Kathy, and was a middle-school teacher for years. I second your recommendations. I'd like to add a comment about teachers having guns. As all schools do, ours had lock-down drills, just like those described in this article. I had the same concerns as this author. We were not allowed to install permanent window coverings because administrators wanted to be able to see into classrooms. So, during a lock down drill, or real lock down, teachers had to: exit the classroom in order to lock the door (new doors lock from the outside only) run across to the nearest bathroom to make sure no students were there, put paper coverings over all interior and exterior windows, shepard students to the classroom location furthest from the perceived point of entry, keep the students calm and quiet. I taught in CT about an hour away from Sandy Hook. I'll never forget the drill we had when two of my students decided it would be funny to call each other setting off their phones during a drill. Keep in mind, readers, that teachers are not always told in advance that a drill is a drill. I can't begin to explain how angry I was at those two boys and my other students were also scared and telling them to be quiet. Should I have had a gun in that situation? What if I'd had a silencer? Would I be expected to silence the two and save the others?
3
Thank you for your service in the armed forces and in your school. Your students are fortunate to have known you.
3
I said it before and I'll say it again. Mark my words: NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. There will be no real legislation on gun control in Congress. Unless citizens become one-issue voters. Unless elected officials start losing their jobs over this one issue, NOTHING SUBSTANTIAL WILL HAPPEN! Mark my words.
The story of Parkland shooting will grow arms and legs. And the N.R.A. will try (and succeed) to muddy the waters. It's already happening. And because newspapers need to continue to write articles, people's attention and focus will veer to other headlines: fortifying schools and arming teachers; why didn't the armed deputy confront the shooter; the complexity of mental health issue; the heroism of the fallen teachers and students, etc.
Unless Americans become one-issue voters (just like most of the N.R.A. members are), NOTHING will happen. NOTHING. And Parkland will vanish into the annals of the police, courts and journalists.
28
Certainty is the enemy of progress. The young people in Florida, and now elsewhere, may ignite a flame that continues - just like the #MeToo movement. Don't give up hope yet.
1
Pathetic! A new low! I went to school in the 50's. My kids went to school in the 80's and 90's None of us ever had concerns about getting shot up in school. Now my grandchildren need to have teachers armed and ready for battle. Insane! Appalling!
Ban assault weapons. Pay a sizable bounty for all that are turned in to authorities. After that, fines for those who keep these weapons whose only purpose can be to kill people. For incorrigible actors, jail. Want to keep violence out of schools and other public forums? Remove the tools of violence.
Make sure to vote against any politician -- state or federal -- who accepts NRA contributions. Don't hold past mistakes against them. Encourage our politicians to change. Just insist they have nothing to do with the NRA in the future and that they support removal of assault weapons and other sensible gun control measures.
6
First, thank you for your military service and then going into public education!! I am a 20 year Army veteran and a 21 year pubic high school teacher and I understand where you are coming from and I totally agree with your thoughts. No teacher should have to be having to decide the issues you highlighted here. You've done your time and now should be focusing on your lesson plans and grading (which is more than enough to keep you busy!). Keep up you service to our nation and your local community.
2
Ms. Nicolas, thank you for your service, both to our nation and to our nation's children. What a shame that you could not/cannot devote all of each day to educating your students in mathematics. Papering over windows, indeed!
3
Arming teachers is like defending against polio by having students in class wear breathing masks and putting an iron lung in each classroom.
We know what to do -- everybody gets vaccinated against polio. We know what to do -- get rid of so many guns in civilian hands, starting with the military weapons.
63
"But our school was built to cultivate learning, not withstand an attack; our teachers were trained to instruct, not shield students from bullets."
That statement says everything we need to remember.
5
People see the NRA work by giving contributions. But there is another half which is the NRA threatens to primary Republican candidates. And with Gerrymandering, that effect is magnified. In addition, the NRA will create as many issues as they can, even if they know they will lose such as Docs vs. Glocks. It goes back to fear and the group identity personality of the NRA members and who are motivated by confrontation. So even if the NRA loses, it makes the Republican politicians have to choose the side of the NRA or get primaried.
I say the problem is that we are the only first world country with these kinds of gun killing statistics.
On the other hand, for the good guy with a gun theory, I do know there were security people with guns in the Las Vegas hotel last October – 58 people killed, 851 injured. And there was an armed security guard in Orlando – 49 killed, 58 injured.
99% of America is a “target rich environment.”
What I say is that if the gun owners don’t like the solutions being proposed, then they should fix the problem so we are like Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Those countries don’t need teachers with guns to do second duty as police officers.
Today, we are all talking about schools because of Parkside, but what about Las Vegas? What about the Orlando night club? 58 killed in Las Vegas and 49 killed in Orlando compared with 17 killed in Parkside. I didn’t hear talk of target rich environment for those shootings. Bars are definitely target rich but even Wayne LaPierre corrected Trump when Trump suggested we should get rid of gun restrictions in bars. Not because LaPierre was having some morality. He knows that mixing guns and alcohol would end up with a lot of shootings and hurt the NRA.
I will give the NRA credit if they get away with adding guns to schools. They will have turned Parkside around into a money maker.
1
In the 1960’s, population had been shifting more and more from rural to urban for some decades and hunting and gun ownership was declining. At the same time, we had the assignations of John Kennedy, ML King, and Bobby Kennedy and gun restrictions were being proposed.
That NRA shift occurred in the 1970's. From Wikipedia:
In 1975, the NRA began to focus more on politics and established its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), with Harlon Carter as director. The next year, its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund, was created in time for the 1976 elections. The 1977 annual convention was a defining moment for the organization and came to be known as "The Cincinnati Revolution". Leadership planned to relocate NRA headquarters to Colorado and to build a $30 million recreational facility in New Mexico, but activists within the organization whose central concern was Second Amendment rights defeated the incumbents and elected Carter as executive director and Neal Knox as head of the NRA-ILA.
Carter's 1977 election as NRA Executive Vice President marked a turning point for the organization. During his tenure, from 1977 to 1985, he shifted the organization's focus from promoting marksmanship and sports shooting towards advocacy for less restrictive gun laws. Under Carter's leadership, the NRA became less compromising on gun rights issues. It also tripled its membership and gained considerable political influence.
It’s worth remembering that while Congress and many state legislatures allow guns in schools, churches, restaurants and malls, they don’t allow them in their own buildings, their own offices. What cowards. And now they’re encouraging teachers and custodians to carry weapons to shoot back at intruders bearing assault rifles in schools. I’ll tell you what. Dismiss the guards that protect the buildings in which the lawmakers work; arm every Member of Congress and the Senate and the custodians and the staff. If these policymakers believe arming teachers is the answer to school safety, how can they not believe that arming elected officials is the answer to safety in their government buildings? If the dogma about a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun is argument enough for our nation’s teachers, it’s argument enough for our nation’s lawmakers. Would someone please put this matter to Members of Congress and ask them what’s wrong with this thinking.
74
Someone please explain to me again how the proliferation of deadly weapons in this country and their easy availability equates to freedom.
2
Very persuasive column, and we should all salute the insights!
One concern, however. I think the writer underestimates the nefarious aims of Betsy DeVos to destroy public education in this country, so as to add to her own fortune with for-profit schools. The shootings at schools like Parklawn play directly into her goals. As her idol might say: SAD!
1
Being an old, fat nearsighted, math teacher with high blood pressure, I am moderately accurate when my targets are clay pigeons following a predictable flight path and not shooting back. But the idea that I could even identify and isolate the shooter from the terrified children in the hallway of my school, let alone stop him without inflicting collateral carnage is pure stupidity.
70
Very well said. Thank you.
Wedges for each door and a short 2” x 4” to kick it in tight should work.
A small, combat first aid kit with several tourniquets and several dozen combat aid patches with ties for gun or tornado wounds.
Every licensed teacher should within one year Red Cross First Aid qualified. Every new teacher should, like coaches, have the same certification.
Every grade school student should be learning the same. Almost all of it can be learned by at least half the first graders. Think how many lives would be saved if every school kid learned what Cub Scouts and Brownies learn.
2
How long has it been since you have been in a school building? Almost all of the doors open outward. Much more difficult to secure. And your training of the students is a good idea. I'm sure the survivors will appreciate the experience.
And the Cub Scouts of the 80s (when my kids were in the program) knew how to put on a Band-Aid. Lotsa help in this situation.
An apocalyptic vision for American schools. Have we come to this?
Sounds good and valuable for other purposes. Good idea!
Superbly written, with the integrity of your experience. Thank you for speaking up, in a humane and sane way.
8
My last job in the military was to lead a medical unit charged with providing surgical services to the flagship of a naval strike force. This small unit trained before our deployment at the trauma center of the LA County Hospital. Almost all our major cities have such units dealing with a continuing crush of significant trauma, most often related to gunfire. When I was in training earlier, I also spent time at Harlem Hospital in New York City, another of the major trauma centers in our country. Working in the ER, we dreaded the day after the welfare checks were scheduled to be delivered because we knew scores would be settled and the ranks of our patients would swell. We called these days with a dark humor "Mother's Day". No mother should ever have to see those sights.
Our country is increasingly armed and conflicts, once settled with shouts and scuffles, now are settled with a hail of bullets. Seeing how strength derives from weaponry in our media, on our streets and even internationally (see North Korea's nuclear program), disaffected youth get a weapon and show they too can have power. And all the while we get better at trauma care but worse at trauma prevention.
One Marine Captain put it best when he described the medical department. He said, "I want my doctors to be bored because if they are not bored, it means many of my Marines are dead or injured."
Yes, I want to take the assault weapons from the hands of our citizens to keep them in our military arsenals.
9
This article shows how confused we are about safety in our schools. There are not enough bandaids, barricades or bullets to keep out an angry shooter. Rather than try to solve the problem at the level of symptoms, I suggest we look for root cause, relationship-based solutions, such as dialogue, education and culture. When people are listened to and respected, they feel less isolated and more connected, and will be far less likely to want to pull the trigger.
6
I come from a family of teachers. My older brother and sister-in-law were educators in Maryland. My older sister and brother-in-law taught in the public school systems of Gettysburg and Carlisle, PA. My younger sister was a dean of students at a university in Seattle, WA. I've lectured at the university level. My dad taught at MIT. His sister was at Phillips Exeter for decades. A great-aunt of mine taught both in Sacramento, CA and in a small town in New Hampshire. None of us was trained in law enforcement or weapons skills before we took on our educational jobs. Nor should we have been. Our skills were in teaching. And while it's true that teaching is a rigorous and demanding calling, employing the best diplomatic, empathetic, persuasive, reasoning and nurturing skills one can bring to it, it shouldn't include knowledge and use of machinery intended to kill. Ms. Nicolas should be honored for her work both as a soldier and as a teacher; she should also be honored for having the wits to understand (as our current political leadership evidently does not) that education and guns should not mix. EVER. We need sensible gun control legislation, not new combat zones in our schools.
22
I quite agree with the poster and have lived in same area: Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Carlisle and Waynesboro. It's a difficult problem to solve though. My dad attended the Army War College in Carlisle. Since many of the lectures are televised on-line, it would be interesting if one of the teachers took it up as a subject to study. Civil Defense is an important subject and how it is addressed is an important national security issue. Let's have a lecture series and put the minds of important national leaders to work on it.
1
Every time I read the arguments of the pro-gun everywhere lobby - I realise that this is only part of the gun owning population - I am reminded of one of my first on the job training sessions as an auditor. My then boss told me that auditors often make the mistake of fixing the symptom rather than the cause. To illustrate he said imagine that you walk into a factory and see that there is water all around the production line and the workers are having to wade through water. He said an unimaginative auditor will recommend that the company buy boots so workers no longer get their feet wet. Next year, there is even more water and the recommendation is wetsuits. A long story short, the workers all end up working in masses of protective gear but all the while the water is still there. Finally an auditor arrives who wonders where the water comes from and notices a leak in the roof - which by now has become substantial - and recommends the fixing of the leak. The problem now is that the leak is so big it is very expensive to fix, the company has already spent so much money on protective gear that it is reluctant to spend the money on fixing the leak. The company which never fixes the leak ends of closing the factory due to high cost and very low productivity. The company which fixes the leak thrives. The NRA is the company which refuses to recognise the cause and will never fix the leak but will always double down on protective gear. The cost to the US is and will be massive.
97
Probably the most eloquent analogy of this insane situation I’ve read so far.
1
No, the NRA is the company that is profiting from the sale of boots and waders and wetsuits and eventually boats. It is our society at large that is suffering from the influx of water, not the NRA.
1
Bravo. What else is there to say. Bravo. We so need more citizens with military training and experience to speak up in this way. Many thanks for your service, and your bravery, both in Afghanistan and by writing in the New York Times. Thank you.
39
It would be an expensive way to protest, but a dozen students in a school wearing body armor every day would make a point, and keep the issue top of mind. The armor could be used in rotation. It's hot and uncomfortable to wear.
A school principal may invoke "dress code", but that will land them on the front page of the local press, and more needed discussion.
I have my used body armor from working in poor countries as an engineer. I think there are many others like me that could donate "kevlar for classrooms", as well.
18
The US is probably the only country in the world that knows this kind of violence in schools. The effort should be made to make sure that no kid should have to wear body armor. Every country has people going crazy and wanting to kill somebody. But in most countries it is difficult or impossible to obtain a gun legally. The police is there to protect. That is the major issue. No guns, no murder.
2
“Kevlar for Classrooms” resonates. Shame Congress into controlling military weapons.
11
Outstanding piece. And, absolutely true, a school, including its architecture, should be open, not an armed fortress. Valuable teaching time should not be absorbed by frightening, "protective" drills. Money should go for teaching resources, school psychologists and enrichment, not to firms peddling security advice. As a former teacher, as fond as I was of my students, the theoretical acts either of carrying a gun or becoming a martyr are not part of any job description that I would have accepted.
21
Ellen,
Thank you for Teaching.
2
Much, much respect to Ms. Nicolas. The article is bracing--in a way we need right now. I would only add that there is a stark gap in the way our culture values soldiers and teachers. For soldiers, we have federal holidays, bi-partisan committees, and a financial commitment to take care of them for the rest of their lives--as it should be, given what they risk and sacrifice. For teachers, we have never-ending complaints, union-busting, low-pay, and accusations from political partisans of doing more harm than good for the American people. If, as Ms. Nicolas warns against, we begin requiring the same sacrifice of teachers that we do of soldiers, who on earth would ever volunteer to teach?
34
Who? Who wants to be that kind of teacher?
People who actually care enough for the students to want to protect them. The Midwest and South are full of such teachers but I doubt that many along the coasts are that devoted, since political correctness seems to come first in so many of their hearts. They're too busy promoting gender options, BlackLivesMatter, and the cool factor of Karl Marx.
It is inconceivable that teachers could be trained to effectively defend against an active shooter. Not when you consider the long hours of training to prepare police and soldiers. Guns in teachers' hands pose all sorts of new dangers. It's a crazy idea and an NRA distraction.
Teachers need to train to stay current in their fields. And get paid better (but that's another topic.)
As the author recommends, politicians need to find the courage to embrace gun control. Period. Step up.
84
Thank you Ms Nicolas. Thank you for your military service, your being a teacher, a law student, and for your very well written opinion. I appreciate all of this things, and I suspect much more. Good luck on becoming a lawyer... I look forward to your successful career - Have you considered the Supreme Court?
43
The year after I turned 18 and registered for the draft, Nixon ended the war in Vietnam and nothing came of it. Now at age 62 and a public school teacher I’ll still get my chance to go to war. Just when I thought life was getting near its end it begins anew.
33
JD,
Thank you for Teaching.
2
To paraphrase Sinclair, 'It is difficult to get a politician to understand something, when his election funding depends on his not understanding it.' A fundamental root of our democracy's problems is that we equate money with political "speech" and allow any interest with money to buy the attention and focus of politicians. Our elected leaders, who should be representing We the People, instead represent those who fund them, those who facilitate their electioneering. The NRA plays this game very well, 'paying the players' of our political system to promote their illusions. Listen to Trump's recent comments, almost as if he had a cue card with NRA talking points on it. Listen and watch Rubio trying desperately to weasel away from understanding what the parents and students of Parkland were trying to tell him, because it conflicts with his funding. The NRA buys our Representatives and Senators allegiance, these politicians do not represent us, they represent those who buy and pay them. Limited public campaign financing, and no outside money would go a long ways toward getting government representing the best interests of all the people, instead of just the wealthy, corporations, and single-issue interest groups. Its no coincidence that Trump's "tax reform" paid 80+% of the benefits to those very groups. We have the Best Government Money Can Buy - its time to change that, and put the NRA out of the 'business' of political influence peddling.
76
Well done, Ashley, on all fronts: you understand the difference between the battlefield and the classroom, and have defended the role of teachers as educators, not combatants effectively. You will make an excellent attorney.
50
Public school at times felt like prison. Public schools in many urban areas look like actual prisons. Worse yet is the school to prison pipeline that urban youth are subjected to, ensuring that many will end up in prison. Militarization of our schools seems like a cynical, yet logical, extension of current affairs.
At the moment, teachers are heroes. Not so long ago, Scott Walker et al successfully portrayed teachers as greedy and undeserving of their union protections. Our politicians (and many of us) seem to lack the resolve for the messy and lengthy process of making a "more perfect Union."
We'll arm teachers tomorrow and the day after demonize them when inevitably a student is killed under dubious circumstances.
Meanwhile, the GOP talking points designed to deflect the conversation from gun control by dehumanizing people like myself who struggle with mental illness, are, in an ironic twist, committing us to providing mental healthcare for the sake of public access to weapons of war.
Putin must be thrilled.
39
It’s automatically mounting escalation---more shootings, so more guns, leading to more shootings, then more guns. Repetitious and ideological.
So besides teachers, let’s arm all our college professors, our doctors and hospitals. Train all supermarket and restaurant cashiers, store clerks, office workers, etc. Employers must finance recurrent target practice like police, to keep their skills up. Always be ready.
The media of course must be sure to avoid any interviews or data from other civilized nations where gun and shootings are rare and ordinary civilians don't have to think about target practice. Don’t discuss such a contrast to our bizarre normality of gun violence.
Also the more guns/bullets, the more soaring profits for gun makers, thus a spiral in campaign donations to our elected officials. We’ll stand in long lines to elect the nominees financed by gun money.
Our high court said money is ‘free political speech’. NRA says guns mean ‘Freedom’. A self reinforcing party line, repeated by the GOP state media monopoly, Fox News.
The message---to limit private money in our elections, or limit guns for our citizens is the road to big govt Tyranny.
So those who oppose are anti American.
32
What is the total number of deaths in school shootings over the last ten years? Each one a tragedy, but also we should look at how many children were killed either going or coming from school-probably mostly in auto accidents. If they were killed in auto accidents, were they the drivers, were they passengers, were they wearing seat belts, were they pedestrians, who was at fault, were they preventable. My guess is that auto related deaths far outnumber the those from shootings. Why don't we deal with auto deaths with same outrage now being shown due to the shooting. Technology now allows for lots of safety features to prevent fatalities both for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. We have the technology to reduce the deaths and injuries, but don't require it. Lots of these safety features are available on new cars, but the American name brands almost universally require the purchase of the most expensive models. We need to look at all the reasons for children dying from all causes, not just some crazy shooter and determine where to best spend our money and energy to reduce the numbers. For every youngster killed that way, humanity may have lost that person who may have found the cure to cancer so it is important. Let's look at the numbers and make some reasoned decisions, including dealing with school shooters.
3
The several thousand people at the National Transportation Safety Board would be dismayed to see that you think that we don't deal with auto safety. There are exhaustive tests that a vehicle must pass before it can be sold or driven. The likelihood of your surviving a car is far higher than it was 20 years ago and much much higher than 50 years ago. The number of deaths has decreased, even with a massive increase in the number of vehicles and the speed at which they travel. A remarkable amount of the entire built environment around us is built to make sure that cars do what they're supposed to do, transport us, without doing what they're not supposed to do, kill us. Likewise, a drive must take a class to be able to operate a vehicle and must maintain a license. In most states they must submit their vehicle for regular inspection and carry insurance in case they cause an accident so that the victim can be recompensed for any damage or injury. Comparing the auto industry to the firearms industry and our concern for the safety of automobiles to the utter callous disregard we as society show for any common sense about or governance of guns is an insult to the auto industry and to all the people who work to make it safe.
I could not agree more. Combat zones mean one side or the other is always on the offensive or on defense. We would be subjecting children to a constant state of readiness. Meaning that an attack is always considered as likely at any given time. I have to believe that we can and should be able to do much better than subjecting our children to a constant state of expectation of the worst. Lets allow them a childhood free of adult weaknesses. Instead of arming our education institutions lets get rid of the tools of choice that killers use to instill fear and foreboding in our youth.
14
My sincere thanks for a thoughtful, well presented first-person piece.
Today, almost 50 years later, I still find myself entering new spaces and scanning the environment to spot threat locations, exit routes and choke points to defend a site; just as I learned to do reflexively as a combatant Infantry Officer in Vietnam. It doesn't always happen anymore, as it once did...but it is more often than I like.
Walter Rhett posted a comment to your story that I think bears elaboration. "Pulling a trigger to take a life is not a defensive decision, it requires an offensive mindset few people, even fewer teachers, are set to make on a moments notice." It takes grueling hours to tear down personalities ranging from mild to bold and reforge them into warriors with the commitment to move into the chaotic maw with the laser-focused intent to create corpses. Once inculcated, the capacity and reflex never goes away entirely; your genetics have been irradiated.
I don't know about anyone else but I don't want people teaching our children and grandchildren who need to carry that modified gene as a job qualification. I want people whose instincts are to nurture, whose sensitivities are to see the emerging sprout, whose commitment is to the flourishing of every child into a compassionate, thinking member of inclusive communities.
I do not apologize for being a sword. But I want our schools to be creating plowshares.
Arming teachers is simply insane.
131
Thank you. It does appear that the NRA would like to turn our country into a country of well-trained killers. It sounds like you don't want to live in that country either.
1
This is truly the most thoughtful and well expressed opinion I have seen on this topic.
1
Thank you for your service. Thank you for sharing your hard earned perspective, and the long lasting effects of that life changing experience.
We are providing children with first hand “on the job” military training, which may be good for the military industrial complex, and possibly for students interested in the vocation. Whether it’s a society’s good choice is something else.
4
Well said. As a former combat veteran from the Vietnam era, I hardly concur. The last thing we want is teachers carrying guns. The NRA-Trump mythology about "hardening" the classroom is so much bunk.
Those members of Congress who think this approach will work are merely placating the NRA-Tea Party zealots whom they believe they cannot be elected without. They are wrong. Commonsense, outraged students and their parents will run them out of office at the earliest opportunity.
I have concluded that need to get re-elected at any cost is akin to being a crack addict desperate for their next fix. How else can we explain the blind ambition of today's men and women who claim to serve this country as members of Congress.
33
Thank you for sharing the parallels of serving in war zones of Afghanistan and that of our domestic, American war zone envisioned by the NRA. The NRA brings forth a lucrative vision of arming every K-12 teacher, of "hardening targets" and expanding domestic markets for weapons. A remarkable dereliction of societal responsibility to regulate weapons has wrought loss, grief and confusion since the NRA redefined the 2nd Amendment in the 1970s. Gun manufacturers promote mass misinformation about the "slippery slopes" of outlawing an AR15 for everyone, the myth of "safety" and "self protection" rather than statistical reality of suicide and accident, and foments anxiety that sells the self-propagating idea that suburban Americans need to arm themselves to the teeth to prevent falling victim to "the other." Only in a teetering democracy of polarized fear, conspiracy theories and legalized corruption could government fail to demand adequate regulation and registration of weapons, fail to outlaw assault rifles and large magazines, and fail to deride the idea of arming Kindergarten teachers in lieu of such common-sense law. Our children in Parkland have eloquently cried out that the Emperor has no clothes, and hopefully the adult "subjects" will wipe the illusion from their eyes and vote out purveyors of unregulated battlefield weapons to all.
137
Excellent summary. I've not heard it said more eloquently.
What battlefield weapon was used in Parkland?
Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for keeping your students as safe as you could. I have two grand daughters in high school and they are precious and innocent just like the students in Florida. My daughter is a retired teacher and I have numerous family that are teachers. I agree with all your ideas about how to deal with school shootings. Thanks
10
As someone who has to deal with his own mild mental health issues I know how hard it is to get appropriate help from a competent mental health provider, commonly known as a psychiatrist. I also know that the medications offered to help me took years of trials and tribulations even for my mild problem. As I have said elsewhere the first step must be to expand the pool of psychiatrists with real experience. I takes about 10 years after being awarded an MD for a new doctor to be an effective psychiatrist. The only real solution to barring sick people from obtaining guns is to limit everyone's access to guns. I see no reason for most people having a gun in their household is if they need it to do their work such as a security guard or police officer. The only way for guns to stop being involved in crime, unwarranted attacks on the public or murder is to limit their availability. If someone wants to learn how to use a gun of any type there are public classes and shooting ranges, controlled hunting opportunities properly supervised by appropriately trained individuals. I have had limited training in using small caliber rifles and have never had any reason to own a gun and all of its responsibilities. When my wife and I are out using our large telescope near Mt. Rainier we usually have bear spray which is extremely effective at incapacitating a bear or a person within a range of 100ft. We have never needed to use that spray can.
9
Thank you Mr. Nicolas for your service to our country and the courage and insight to state a clear and rational fact: schools should remain schools.
10
Instead of giving teachers guns, why don't we hire armed guards to patrol the hallways? If we're going to turn schools into hardened fortresses, let's at least do it right. The smallest schools will probably need 3-4 guards. Large high schools like Stoneman might need 15-20.
Each school should be equipped with advanced technology that can detect a gun anywhere on school grounds. A manned control center would monitor the sensors and cameras, ready to dispatch help at a moment's notice.
It might be wise to position a few snipers on the roof of every building. At least during school hours.
Of course every door needs to be bullet-proof, as well as the windows.
Every school should be provided with enough guns to field a small army. Any teacher or staff member could check one out for the day. (Having an armed teacher watching students take a test might cut down on cheating - a nice side benefit to the new protocols for keeping schools safe.)
I'm sure if we all just work together and put on our thinking caps (or helmets) we can come up with even more ways to protect schools.
8
or turn them into prisons. A rose by any other name.
When did arming teachers become an option? Why is it even being considered? How are students supposed to learn when every sound can signal a possible attack? How are teachers going to maintain a safe, calm atmosphere when, for all they know, someone carrying an AR 15 or similar weapon might burst into the classroom and casually execute a few of their students?
What is wrong with out lawmakers that they are taking orders from the NRA rather than acting like leaders and stating that while owning guns is a right that right comes with a responsibility to be a mature person, one who does not have a hair trigger temper or a propensity for violence. When did owning a gun become more important than keeping Americans safe? Gunfights at the OK Corral ought not to be the stuff of daily life anywhere in America. But our politicians extraordinary cowardice on gun safety has made it so.
Owning a gun is not the most important thing in life. The Second Amendment was written when we were a small and new country. It was never meant to be a license to kill.
51
it is such a deep betrayal to every kid.
2
The answers to your questions are in a review of the federal political campaign rallies of the past twenty years. Fear and hatred meating opportunism forming a toxic brew.
1
Arming teachers means more gun sales; prohibiting sale of assault weapons means less gun sales. If you represent arms manufacturers, the choice is obvious.
The genius of the arms industry has been a long campaign to change the 2nd amendment from the right of states to form militias to an individual right, and then to convince people that reasonable regulation impinges on their "constitution rights." In the old west, sheriffs banned guns in town and people would have been laughed at if they insisted such restrictions infringed their constitutional rights.
42
This NRA push and Trump-echoed insanity is a move to sell more guns and privatize school safety. Greed Over People.
7
I guess Wayne La Pierre isn't paying attention. We have State formed Militias already, they are called the National Guard.
NRA’s Wayne LaPierre was paid $5,051,249 in 2015. In that year there were 36,252 gun deaths in the US. Congratulations Wayne, you got paid $139.34 per death. #complicitinslaughter
Some campuses are farther behind than others in preparing for flying bullets. One of my college campuses issues keys to every classroom every semester, and the doors lock from the inside. On another campus, not only do we not have keys, but there are no inside locks on any door except those protecting computers in the labs. I'm not happy about having to even think about all this, but I would feel a whole lot better if there could just be some uniform agreement about what constitutes preparedness, and total agreement that lives are worth more than computers.
6
As a law student, the young writer knows that there has been no forensic investigation into the event in Florida yet. Therefore. no facts and data are present to reason from. In trial practice, no extant facts exist that could be asserted in a court of law. If she brought the case on a Plaintiff cause of action basis, or especially on behalf of the State, it would either be dismissed in summary judgment, or lose on appeal. It is an interesting essay (appealing as it does to authority, patriotism and military culture, representing logical fallacies) but not relevant to the event, or the actual issues. As for similarities among military and public schools, it is merely a function of common culture, funding sources and ideological interests: Her argument must be put in context: her experience stems from the global war on terror operations, perhaps among the more pronounced problems in US experience. As for schools and classrooms, which ones? In the Nation's hundreds upon hundreds of private ones, this op-ed is not relevant. Stay conscious my friends.
4
You don't need the results of a formal "forensic investigation" to have solid facts upon which you can base actions. An unstable minor legally bought an assault rifle and killed 17 students.
10
I found the piece to be informative and useful. Any one of us who might have a child in her class would be impressed and delighted she was proactive and creative in her defense of her students. I hope we hear from more teachers who like her look at their classrooms as the last line of defense.
Stop the madness. Responsible gun laws now.
5
I would say that for private schools, it is not relevant yet. I believe that sometime in the not too distant future, there will be a mass shooting at a private school.
7
"Yes, we need to arm our teachers — with the support of effective gun control, comprehensive background checks, better information-sharing between local and federal authorities, engaged parents and school-sponsored mental health care providers to identify troubled students before they become killers."
Thank you Ms. Nicolas. This is the best article I've seen yet.
87
And the first time a teacher shoots a kid ...
Or used threat of armed response to control unarmed behavior ...
Teachers are human too, and, in bad situations will make bad judgment calls.
They are confronting students at the age they are trying to discover what it is like to ne a human, and prone to making minor mistakes the known presence of firearms in their school would only escalate.
Get rid of the guns, and the problem will go away.
11
Aside from anything else what is America coming to if a classroom is considered a potential war zone.
56
The data says that our efforts to keep it a peace zone isn't working with our current strategy of hoping people will be good and congress will act reasonably.
Deterrence works. It is the basis for keeping the peace in the world since the first nuclear bomb was dropped.
Personally, I"m not in favor in arming teachers. I'd prefer highly professional, dedicated, and continuously employed security personnel who know and have proven experience with security issues.... and leave teaching to do what they know how to do the best: teach.
Daryl's Produce
5
Deterrence doesn't work when the attacker doesn't care if they live or die, or actually plan to die. The most common outcome with mass shooters seems to be they either commit suicide before the cops close in or engage them in a fatal gunfight.
2
Bring the troops home from Afghanistan because of the conflict taking place in the schools? Honestly what is going on? Wouldn't it be simpler just to control the guns as other countries do?
33
Effective gun control: check
comprehensive background checks: check
better information sharing between local and federal authorities: check
engaged parents: check
mental health care providers: check
FBI/law enforcement doing due diligence and following-up: ??????
,
3
Check ridding our society of the plague of assault-style weapons that have no legitimate use in civilian society.
amen.
8
I wonder if the sheriff's deputy guard at the school was wearing body armor and a helmet. I wonder if he figured out that his gun was no match for a machine gun. I wonder if he feels better resigning and being alive then walking into a certain death.
No guard could survive an AR-15. NRA--get real!
143
But he is supposed to be the good guy with a gun. How much more armed than he will the teachers be who are expected to face what he ran from as a deputy sworn to defend?
1
One man with a handgun is seriously overmatched against someone with an AR-15 and plenty of ammunition. For all the deputy knew there could have been multiple attackers.
The expectation seems to be that the deputy should have charged into the gunfire alone. "To protect and serve" doesn't include volunteering for suicide missions.
1
So I've done a teensy bit of research into this and hunters apparently do use the AR-15 and other similar weapons. In the hunting world, they are considered ideal because they are powerful and they have little recoil. And they are NOT machine guns. One trigger pull, one bullet. The pro-gun websites deride the "educated" "liberal" NYTimes readers who think AR-15s are "machine guns". So let's not go around calling them machine guns and making ourselves look/sound stupid to our opponents. https://www.nssf.org/msr/
That said, I would also read the piece in the Atlantic about the power and physical destruction of the AR-15.
1
Thank you for piercing the flimsy narrative that suggests turning our schools into combat zones is somehow a solution to gun violence. First of all, unless we arm our teachers with assault rifles they will be immediately out gunned. The security guard who did nothing in FLA was most likely outgunned. Now they're scapegoating him. The NRA are cowards. They just want to sell more guns. Shame on them.
106
Thank you for your honesty and God bless you and your students.
14
The profits of the arms manufacturers are much, much more important than the lives of other peoples children.
So you middle and lower class parents just suck it up and supply your kids semi automatic guns( size appropriate) with bump stocks, several rounds of ammunition and send them of to school.
16
The breathless author must have taken statistical modeling at some point during her military career - that is the ability to plan for the most likely contingencies.
Case in point - probability that you will be killed in a school shooting in a USA classroom - 1:1,000,000
Probability that you will be killed by a lightning strike - 1:300,000
So - using the probability of remote possibilities you should plan for a lightning strike at about the same rate you should plan for a school shooting. Or - being super cautious - spend most of your time planning to be killed by a lightning bolt.
And - just in passing - I rarely saw the Int Officers walking point on combat patrols.
3
Now we learn that an armed, trained deputy sheriff was afraid to enter the building and confront the shooter. But Mr. Trump and many other Republicans think teachers should be able to whip out their handguns and take down the guy with the assault weapon. Maybe this military vet could... but we shouldn’t be asking her to.
51
The Leader of the NRA-Republican Party offers a "great way" to solve the problem of death-by-sitting-in-a-classroom.
The young man, a senior at the school of the assault, offers a greater "broad brush" idea to see the alternatives of shooting issuers in Australia.
DumbTrump comes out with a half-witted concept of arming teachers.
Okay...let's push back.
I went through teacher training in my undergraduate work for my BA, and there was nothing close to learning the art of "packing" as part of that education.
I understand that some teachers would relish being able to carry weapons, but considering that police rate out at about 40% of hitting a target and they are required to to take target practice regularly. That concerns me.
Professional teachers naturally lean toward TEACHING CONTENT TO STUDENTS, and may not be able to have the time to take regular target practice.
If this Trumpian "answer to student deaths" wasn't tragic, it would be laugh-out-loud.
18
I haven’t looked up the casualty figures, but it might actually be safer for young people in America to drop out of high school and join the Army. In Niger or Yemen, at least they’d have a fighting chance.
Anyway, if Trump is serious about arming teachers, it doesn’t seem fair to send them into a firefight with nothing but a pistol; I think I would at least want an Uzi. What do they Israelis do to defend their schools? I’ll bet they could teach us a thing or two.
4
Please look up the numbers. Very few children are killed in US schools. They're safer than they have ever been in US history, in fact.
Revolution Bait --Congress gun proof with metal detectors, reduced entrances, focused on tax reform for themselves while working one day for every three ----in meantime children weapon up......................
12
School shootings are fine for trump-supporting america. It's what they asked for, and its what they deserve.
California deserves better. #calexit
8
"The Gun Lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud-I repeat the word fraud-on the American people by special interest groups ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies-the militia-would be maintained for the defence of the state. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires."
Conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger
109
And that armed militia already exists, its called the National Guard.
I grew up in Florida. During the integration of schools which for us was 1969 to 1970, we experienced riots at our high schools. Rocks were thrown through windows and we were not allowed to leave our classrooms for our safety. We lowered blinds so the glass would not come through and hit us. We stayed away from the windows. This was an open school with no entrance, just doors to classrooms.
There weren't guns involved, just rocks. No one thought that teachers should have guns to protect us. The principal called the law enforcement agencies to come and stop the riots with sometimes tear gas. No one was shot.
The difference between the two times, is guns. Guns can be purchased by high school students. Guns have become more violent with multiple magazines to kill an entire classroom in seconds.
Instead of turning our schools into war zones, let do something about the guns.
81
Am I confused? Or are you? These SAME exact guns were available in the 70s, they were even easier to purchase back then and IIRC there was no laws against teenagers bringing guns to school. As a matter of fact MANY students took shotguns and rifles to school to target shoot. Many students had shotguns and rifles in racks in their cars/trucks. The difference between the two times is if you were mental you generally went to a mental hospital, and they didn't have the medications that cause this violence that is caused now.
Also unless you are an 18 year old high school student you can't legally purchase a firearm. And if you're talking illegal purchases most teenage gun violence is committed by gang members in poor inner city neighborhoods.
I really wish people would have some knowledge about guns/culture before making opinions, just like the OP-ED, they could use actually fact checking their statements before trying to change peoples opinions with incorrect facts or political propaganda.
And yet guns were readily available back then as well. Perhaps more so. Ask yourself why no one used them.
I fear we we will not see the necessary changes until the NRA decides it is time; too many politicians are beholding to them and their bizarre interpretation of out second amendment. It is sad that many of our children now understand but in this there may be hope. They may do what we adults have failed to accomplish.
3
If the government is for saving lives, it would make metal weapon screening mandatory. Since 9-11, they have put security check points at all airports. I have gone through other checkpoints: the court system, financial institutions, federal parks, university sporting events. What is stopping the federal government from funding safety at schools!?
Our liberty comes at a cost. It’s called enforcement, paid by all taxpayers. The risk on the general population of arms should be paid for by those who choose to sell, buy, and carry these arms. When the forefathers wrote the 2nd amendment, the US did not have the breath of defenses it has today: local police, state police, federal officers, the national guard, and the best military. The US also did not have the breath of arms equipment, including missiles, atomic bombs, poisonous gas, drones. How deadly does ammunition need to be for a civilian to defend oneself?
1
Our fore fathers also distrusted the government and didn't trust a government army which is why they included the 2nd amendment so we had a way to protect ourselves from tyrannical leaders. They also believed that if you give up rights in the name of freedom you are no longer free.
The supreme court has stated that local police are not in charge of keeping you safe, that is up to each individual citizen. IDK about you but I would rather have the ability to protect myself than hope civilization gives me the impression it can protect me when it can't actually do it.
To the NRA's Wayne LaPierre and his club who make hysterical speeches saying that the left wants to take away all guns, blah, blah, blah, to those who say that we need to "harden" our schools (that they now call "targets") and turn teachers into armed guards (as though that is a natural part of teaching), the freedom that we all cherish will be diminished greatly if we have to live in fear of random assault weapon attacks on us as we go about our daily lives. The suggestion by LaPierre that we all should be "good guys with guns" is the very opposite of living in a free, peaceful, society. The right has gone flying off the cliff with their absurd accusations of the left being "socialists" because they want to protect us from an assault weapons fad that is killing us.
66
No guns in schools. It only happens in America. Why? Automatic weapons are only legal in America. It is that simple. Get rid of automatic weapons.
66
There has been ZERO shootings in America with an automatic weapon! I wish people listened to their parents when they taught them to know what they are talking about before opening their mouths. It shocks me that 14 people recommended your comment that is 100% incorrect.
Don't let the bone spur President be part of this. He showed his true (cowardly) colours back dodging the Vietnam era draft. There are brave men, of many political stripes, former soldiers, police who have faced deadly fire, as well as researchers, who can show how well trained armed people, knowing s/he has to confront a man with an AK 47 or AR 15, would react. What do the statistics show re fight or flight in that circumstance?
This isn't about glorifying the mythical Hollywood hero types like Charltan Heston, John Wayne, or "Make My Day" bravado stuff . Don't let the bone spur President, using a deeply phony macho growl to call for more guns, play a role in this.
11
Please consider running for office.
6
I don't recall kids who were turned into outsiders at my schools. There were awkward, acned kids like me, who preferred to be by themselves. Maybe read a lot. There were some fistfights. But, no kid I know of was turned into a killer
in our town.
Things have changed. TV, games and availability of massive power like AR's turn on loners. Manliness is touted by the NRA. And the alt-right groups, to the extent that normal
law is rejected. Many of them are cowards like Trump, bullies and mysogenists. Models for unhappy "boys." We have a culture that is sick.
Name me another developed nation where teachers carry guns in the classroom, or where campuses have to have armed guards. Tell me what other leader of a great nation advocates for this kind of police state. The world is shaking its head about us, and too many citizens are in fear of the alt-right types, the bullies. They inspire the death wish in some boys.
If you notice, most of these killer boys commit suicide and/or expect to be shot after they have massacred others. A teacher with a gun won't impress them. In fact, such would be a "make my day" scene for them.
35
ARs have been around since the 1950s. Name another country that has the gang problem the US has.
I agree that things have changed but it's not TV and games, it's helicopter parenting and not allowing children to grow up. You have 40 year olds living with their parents who refuse to let/make them grow up. You have no challenge for kids to aspire to. Trophies are given to everyone just for participating, that doesn't challenge kids to grow and think for themselves.
1
Clint in the Classroom
My weapon of choice – in the classroom, that is
My fav on the range when you got to mean bizz
Is a sidearm and holster neat on your hip
For any ole blister that gives you some lip;
Lay a hand on the grip, he’ll shut it real quick,
“No hijinks young man, I’ll shoot where you sit;”
As to intruders, I’m quick on the draw,
Squeeze off a round, ain’t breathin’ no more.
1
We don’t have money for books, pencils, pens, and computers - but we do have money to fill the coffers of the NRA and weapons manufacturers (still no journalism on NRA funding). Trump wants to pull immigration officers from CA - maybe we can hire them to teach - weapons and all. We’ve descended in to a quagmire if idiocy- and uneducated family leading the country, a schill for big money, and the only skills are an ability to Tweet and sell their “brand”. Trump keeps talking about mentally ill - yet all these attacks were carried out with planning and skill. And of course no one talks about Las Vegas / wonder what they are hiding. The conservative talk show mouths can’t believe that 17 year olds are intelligent - no surprise there these people are truly intellectually challenged.
31
So talk shows don't think 17 year olds are intelligent but liberals want to raise the age of gun ownership because 18 year olds are not smart enough with shotguns and rifles. Do you see the oxymoron in this situation? And the talk shows are just wanting to know what expertise a 17 year old has about guns without ever researching or owning them. Just because I was in a car accident doesn't mean I know all about car safety.
Maybe the real Republican plan is to home school all children.
9
The NRA spokeswoman at the CNN Forum last night claimed that all classrooms should have bulletproof windows--but that assault weapons are ok.
Sick.
18
So the bone spur commander in chief wants to turn teachers into combat troops. Only certified cowards and bullys see violence and physical force as a simple solution to whatever the problem.
Teachers need to teach and model conflict resolution not lead the shoot out at the OK Corral.
13
We need to repeal the 2nd Amendment.
21
We might "need to" repeal the 2nd amendment, but we never will. Ever. You drastically underestimate the awesome power of single issue voters.
Better to spend the time and effort to banning the murderous assault weapons. Even that will be a massive challenge. As some idiot congressman in Florida recently said, you might need an assault weapon to go boar hunting.
The statistics are clear. If you have a gun, you are more likely to be injured by a gun. It is far, far more likely that arming teachers would lead to terrible unintended consequences rather than the stymieing of a would-be mass shooter.
It's kind of funny, in a way. The same people who think most teachers are lazy brainwashers who stink at their jobs also want them to be packing heat around the kids. Sure will add a bit more force and intimidation to all that liberal propaganda!
11
Arming teachers and creating hardened school targets is complete and utter lunacy. Australia banned assault weapons and hasn't had a single massacre since. We should do the same. All it takes is voter turnout. We don't need republicans or the NRA to bless anything.
33
Option Number One: Resign yourself to the inevitability of troubled souls showing up at your neighborhood school with firearms.
Option Number Two: Resign yourself to the inevitability of troubled souls in your neighborhood but keep them from having firearms.
What part of that is too complicated for you to understand, Mr. LaPierre?
14
Part 2 of Option Number Two: Resign yourself to the inevitability of troubled souls in your neighborhood burning down neighborhoods, or running over children in cars, or using 1000 other ways to cause damage to individuals. You can't ALWAYS keep troubled souls from causing harm unless they are sent to mental institutions if they are truly troubled.
Taking care of troubled souls is a better/safer solution than just removing everyones access to firearms. I do not want my wife to not have protection against large individuals she would not be able to protect herself from without firearms.
Thank you!
Thank you for your authoritative post. As a vet and guest-teacher, I would similarly scan each classroom in the variety of schools where I taught. Sadly, when fights broke out my colleagues would refrain from engaging. I can't imagine them doing so in life-threatening scenarios. Thus the fallen educators and students who enabled student safety are even greater heroes than media-portrayed.
4
This piece is fear-mongering at either its most shameless or most self-absorbed. I truly can't determine the difference. Schools in America are safer than they ever have been; they are not combat zones - certainly not in San Jose, and frankly, not anywhere. Five heroic victims are named out of millions - yes, millions - of students and teachers in this country. The ratios don't stand up to the price soldiers, or even police officers pay. This doesn't diminish the tragedy of the loss of these students. But their tragic loss is no sadder than those children killed in their own homes, which is far more common. Or those killed on their way to school. This teacher has no logical or evidence-based reason to be stocking a tourniquet - even one - or to enlist children in some sort of paranoid strategy to barricade doors. She'd have been better served to teach them safe driving habits if she wanted to keep them safe. Decisions and policies driven by emotional responses have proven disastrous in this country, and the generic demand for "gun control" is divisive and intellectually lazy. Worst of all is the descent into scare tactics that those calling for this nebulous policy are engaged in.
3
Explain to the kids at Marjory Stoneman Douglas how fear is an inappropriate response. Explain to the parents of those kids how this conversation is shameless. Divisive? So how would you propose we come together? Or should we stop having this conversation altogether? Should the ratio of students killed actually be compared to the losses suffered by soldiers and police officers? And what ratio would be acceptable?! Driving habits? Are there any other distractions, changes of subject, you might like to add turn something obvious into something nebulous? Are emotional responses not appropriate? Are they intellectually lazy?
1
Thank you so much Ms Nicolas. We do not need more guns in schools we need common sense restrictions on buying and selling guns. Isn't
it interesting that the NRA again is trying to change the debate via bought and sold politicians? Very sad, I hope that this proposal does not go anywhere. I am a former school teacher, I never thought that a day would happen where we are talking about arming teachers. There are so many opportunities for more shootings if we arm teachers. Who would be armed? What if a student steals the teachers gun and start shooting? This is a ridiculous solution to this issue, more guns, REALLY.
10
We have common sense restrictions already. if your so knowledgeable about it what change are we missing? Do you know what year we created gun free schools?
Kudos to Ms. Nicolas!
She is an embodiment of the unforgettable and immortal words of Wilhelm Tell, in either one of the two translations into English of Schiller's drama:
"I want my right hand, when I want my bow" or "My right arm's lacking when I lack my bow".
My late husband was a former Naval intelligence officer and spent his career as a secondary school math teacher. I cannot imagine him wanting to become a marksman and have a gun in his classroom. He was there to teach math and teach his students to be good citizens and good human beings.
The mind boggles at all the problems armed teachers could cause. It would also solve NOTHING! I have two high school age grandchildren and two middle school age ones. Those children in FL could have been my grandchildren. They WERE someone's children and grandchildren!
I will go to my grave and not understand how anyone sane person can think their right to buy yet another semi-automatic rifle is more important than the safety of our children. What are they thinking!
Banning their sale is not going to be the first step of the government going house to house and confiscating all weapons. Heck, the government can't even go door-to-door anymore to conduct a census every ten years. They couldn't pull it off it they wanted to do so!
Do our children truly mean so little to us today?
27
Do you honestly think banning the sale of semi automatic rifles would stop school killings? Tylenol kills 270k people a year, but I don't see anyone worried about giving their children more pharmaceuticals.
I see the schools of the future being more militarized zones, with military personnel coming back or getting jobs as teachers, so that parents and students feel safe.
"America’s schools should not be a combat zone."
Thank you for this.
3
The first thing we need is to get all AR-15s, AK-47s, etc., off the shelves and out of the gun-shows now. No sales of these weapons to any private parties whatsoever, nationwide. There is no excuse for not doing this now. Then get them out of the hands, homes, cars, etc. of all except those who have legal, professional need of, authorization and training for and official oversight of their possession of such weapons.
9
The level of absurdity we are seeing in the public discourse over guns is shocking. Gun ownership should be a privilege, not a right. It’s simply not working for us. We should abolish the 2nd ammendment and move on. Vote!
10
Thank you for a mature opinion on this subject from someone whose real-world experience ought to command wide respect.
Of all the cruelly immature opinions, leave it to the mind of Donald Trump to dwell among the most fanciful and superficial: armed teachers who happen to be in the right part of the building at the right moment, just like in the movies, and teachers who are best motivated by the lure of more money, just like him.
A gun-slinging war of attrition with shooters is not a grown-up's idea of a solution. Denying angry people the ability to shoot is.
9
Arm those teachers willing to conceal carry and be trained in tactical defense to terminate any hostile threat. Taxpayers will pay for the training and the firearm. Those teachers completing the course should receive a stipend that covers the cost of continued target trading throughout the year plus a one time bonus of $3000.00. Presto. Schools are now a hard target. It is a perfect idea. The alternative is to cower under your desk and text your loved ones that the end is coming. No brainer. The democrats will be hysterical with outrage as they blame the fire arm as if it operates magically by itself.
1
Why does P. Trump surround himself with platoons of heavily armed Secret Service agents when he could easily replace them with school teachers and leave the heavy-lifting of protecting school kids in Washington up to the better-trained Secret Service agents?
Or better yet, he could get an AR-15 and protect himself, and let the Secret Service agents and the teachers turn their attention to more important matters like school kids.
12
If Congress really believes more guns will make us safer then I propose all our representatives be armed on the House and Senate flow and that they do away with all the metal detectors in their buildings. Of course, they would reject this idea, knowing this would make them much less safe, thus making their hypocrisy transparent.
20
To contend that arming teachers with a handgun will effectively thwart the attack of one or more crazed individuals armed with AR-15s or other such weapons is ludicrous. Just ask any trained law enforcement officer who has planned and participated in an active shooter exercise. The coordination and communication needed by these professionals to properly neutralize the shooter without jeopardizing the innocent is well beyond the ability of a teacher who is expected to suddenly cease discussing Shakespeare and morph into Rambo. Let's get real and start discussing the common denominator in all these tragedies-- the mass killing weapon carried by the shooter. Only then will we get to the crux of the issue.
24
The COMMON DENOMINATOR IS THE ATTACKER. Please understand that a sick individual will use ANY means they can to carry out an attack. This guy planned this, if he didn't have access to a firearm he would have improvised something else. After all there is only 1000s of ways to cause harm.
First of all. each attacker is different so he cannot be a common denominator by definition. Second it's undisputed that he would not have killed 17 and wounded 12 others in under 5 minutes without a semi-automatic with multiple high capacity magazines? Obviously you have no military or law enforcement training and have never been involved in investigating and prosecuting homicides.
I agree 100%. As a teacher in a school that is overpopulated with 2300 teenagers, I have had nightmares or sleepless nights after any mass shooting where I’ll run scenarios in my head and what I should do. I have come to the opinion that there is no possible positive outcome because we are waiting until something happens to react.
Gun advocates routinely point out that it takes cops 10 minutes to arrive on scene sometimes to argue that more people should have guns. In that best case scenario, shooter walks in, takes out a handful of people while everyone draws weaponry and then reacts. That is still too many children dead. That is still too long to wait. We need action NOW to save those first victims of the next attack. Let’s not be too proud to follow the examples set by England, Australia, and Japan. Make guns so time consuming and difficult to get that the bad guy going for the easy targets is frustrated while trying to arm themselves and gives up there instead of at the flimsy locked door that is the only thing keeping your child alive.
7
Thank you for speaking up! It is good to hear that a combat expert agrees with what I as a parent instinctively know - guns and schools do not mix. I really don't understand why reasonable limits on gun ownership are a no-go? Why does any civilian need a weapon that fires many rounds in rapid succession? What sort of hunting needs that sort of weapon? Even if it is indispensable for hunting, why is someone's right to own it more important than a civilian's right to life?
7
Your writing resonated with me in a profound way. The far wall of my classroom has many windows and they face the parking lot. As a result of worry about safety I keep the blinds down which cuts down on natural light and makes the room less attractive. I now plan to keep both doors locked from the inside as well. Our schools should feel open and welcoming and it is sad that windows are covered in butcher paper and blinds. I feel so vulnerable and worry so much about how I might react and how I could best protect my students. This is all so very sad.
9
The simplicity of the solution, is less firepower wattage, not “control” of 2nd ammend rights. Weapons for protection; pistols with 6 rounds, rifles and shotguns similarly, are maybe ‘protected’ to let civilians have “regulation” over possible government upheaval (coup, civil war), but never was it intended that massive firepower would be available to the public, beyond “muskets”, much less without gov regulations for public safety on ensuing technological advances. In there where can we imagine the founding fathers would be comfortable allowing these weapons in the hands of every day citizens today.
3
Six rounds is perfectly reasonable for ONE attacker, BUT what if there are more then one? This is why police do not carry six rounds. It is BY FAR better to have 20 and need 6 then have 6 and need 20. Does that mean bad guys can have more? Unfortunately yes, but it's the price we need to pay to ensure more people can protect themselves. It would be SO nice if laws alone stopped crime, but they don't and I do not want to force someone like my wife to be defenseless against 3-4 large men wanting to rape her cause she has 6 rounds.
If the bad guy didn’t have a gun the good guy would not need a gun. Schoolchildren should not exposed to armed school teachers. The teacher/student relationship would change into a student/armed guard relationship. The NRA is wrong headed when they talk about “ hardening” our classrooms.
10
We can work on changing the laws and at the same time implement the more immediate safeguard of having armed personnel in the schools. Is this a perfect solution? Of course not. But it is more likely to save lives right now than is the lengthy process of passing and implementing new laws. Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
We are the most dangerous civilized, western country with the highest death rate by firearm because of misinterpretation of the 2nd amendment. There are no militias in this country and no need for them. For anybody to be able to buy a mass-killing firearm is the product of a sick society and to have so many Republicans fawn to the NRA with incredulous reasons to permit these arms is just awful.
There must be some Republicans and hopefully a lot of Democrats who can pass real legislation to prevent the sales of these military weapons. Our lives and our sanity depend on it.
11
It's absolutely foolish and counterproductive to treat a place of learning like a place of killing. From outside the States, a much healthier solution appears obvious: ban, restrict, and limit firearms in your society.
The problem isn't your schools: what would this do to prevent your massacres in your churches, concerts, hotels, nightclubs and streets? The problem is your laws and society.
10
Thank you for saying that gun control and other steps, not the arming of teachers and other school personnel, would be the best way to deal with the proliferation of murder in our nation's classrooms. All these proposals to arm and train teachers just creates the possibility of gunfights in our schools that will kill even more. This isn't the Wild West of yesterday; these are young boys and girls who are going to school to learn, not drill and worry about gun battles in the hallways. Get rid of the high-powered, kill-friendly weapons that the NRA and their supporters feel are appropriate for a civilized society. Take steps to stop the violence before another school tragedy.
6
The idea of teachers becoming armed guards is absolutely frightening.
The world is watching and wondering how this country became like a war zone because of its politicians not having morals.
The President and some seemingly reasonable people's only solution is a crazy solution that has a tried and true solution. Sad.
7
Your analysis of the situation in the American classroom as a place of learning amidst the violence on the outside is well stated.
The problem confronting our society is to look squarely at the 2nd Amendment and other rights in our constitution to determine how absolute we want rights to be in a modern society. So far, our courts have determined that rights cannot be absolute.
The best solution is to ban all assault rifles while recognizing legitimate rights of hunters to have their rifles and citizens to own handguns for protection if they go through stringent background checks and training.
To protect schools and other public places, it is time to ban all weapons meant for combat and killing people. This doesn’t happen in schools in other countries and a main reason is that we have gone too far in allowing combat weapons into easy access in our society.
Vote against all politicians supported by NRA.
13
Repeal and replace the Second Amendment with one that gives Congress the power to regulate the ownership, possession, and use of firearms.
At the very least, ban all semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines. Australia did that and dramatically reduced firearms deaths in their country.
8
The only effective solution is to get military style assault weapons out of civilian hands, where they should never have been allowed.
The Parkland students see this with clarity and their amazing courage, wisdom and eloquence in standing up and speaking out, I hope will begin to effectively turn the tide.
15
The absurd idea of arming teachers is a blind designed to remove conversation about gun control. We need gun control. Now.
6
Just realized that the gun debate here in this day and age is being seen , heard and read about worldwide . The rest of the civilized world must be stunned , as I am , at the paucity of sanity and intelligence in the u s a .
9
This essay is the most intelligent and insightful response to all of the self serving and cowardly statements issued by our political class. It is based on hard experience in combat and a true understanding with respect to education. The conclusion is all too obvious, all too clear and heartbreakingly true: a place of learning is not and should never be a combat zone. This is not the way America’s youth and the country’s future should be formed. Just the opposite - schools must be humane places of openness, trust and exploration.
6
When congress was threatened on 9/11, they didn't pass new laws. They made the Capitol a hard target. Politicians don't hide behind useless laws when it comes to their safety. As a teacher, I agree that we are not qualified, most of us, to handle an active shooter with armed resistance. We are also not qualified to bring them down in hand to hand combat, but no one is arguing against that ridiculous resort. Congress knew that laws against guns would not protect them. That is why they made their workplace into a fortress. But for us, we will get symbolic gestures like another narrow ban or an age restriction. This is really about hurting the NRA, since it supports almost exclusively Republicans. When lawmakers, all of them, not just the NRA-supported, want to be safe, they get armed guards and vehicle restrictions. The rest of us can get sticks and stones to take to a gun fight. Or, if you are from Indiana, arm children with billiard balls and basketball floor planks.
2
An interesting viewpoint but do we really want to militarize schools and turn them into virtual prisons? That would be giving in to terrorism (yes, this is ideological terrorism but its enablers aren't ISIS). Remember how schools were back in the 1950's and 1960's? Make America great again. Oh sorry; someone already trademarked that.
3
Three things:
1. The Constitution was written not only to form a more perfect Union, but also to ensure domestic tranquillity. When the second amendment is destroying domestic tranquillity, it’s time to adjust.
2. The school guard at Parkland was armed with a sidearm. Despite what we see on TV cop shows, a sidearm pistol is far less accurate, holds fewer rounds, and most are less powerful than a rifle. A person armed with a pistol against a semiautomatic rifle has a low chance of success.
3. Remember the teachers you had in school? Mine were not macho cowboys like John McClain in Die Hard. They were little old ladies, young women, mild-mannered men who knew French and algebra. I can’t think of a single one who was Silver Star material, even the coaches. Where did thes boneheads who think arming these nice people go to school I wonder?
15
converting you classroom into a 'hard target' sounds good. doesn't work though, after all it is a school, not a fort or a prison. you served in the military so I'll ask two questions. 1. How would you remove every gun from the street? In Australia, after the Port Arthur shooting, the general public willingly (mostly) handed in their weapons, not one criminal even considered it. so they had a nation were only the criminals and police were armed.
in states were open/concealed carry is legal mass shootings do not occur, so 2. trained as you are, if you and other fully trained personnel were armed (concealed carry) do you think that your school would be a target?
there are other countries where it is almost mandatory to own an assault rifle. but the people are trained in the correct use and care of them, so it isn't the weapon. it's the fact that no training, on idea of use just buy the weapon. maybe if to obtain a firearm AND a license a person had to pass a 10 week course, if they were caught with a firearm without a pass, it's a mandatory 20 years in prison. scaring them might be the only way to reduce the numbers. just my thoughts.
1
Those countries that you talk about require they you do at least a year in their army. You own a gun, because you might be called up at any time to join your unit and you need to bring your weapon with you. If we were to properly interpret our Second Amendment, those who wanted to own a gun would join the National Guard and become pare of their stats well regulated militia.
4
@shane woods - Contrary to your misinformation, in the 18-year period from 1979 to 1996 there were 13 mass shootings of five or more people killed but none in the succeeding 19 years. That is NONE, ZERO, ZILCH compared to thirteen in comparable periods of time. Further, other gun homicides, while they did not entirely disappear, decreased by 60%.
In Arizona concealed carry is legal even without a permit. That didn't stop a gunman from opening fire at a shopping mall and killing six people and injuring another twelve. Apparently you have forgotten about the shooting in Tucson in which Representative Gabby Giffords was shot in the head.
There is no country in the world where it is mandatory or even "almost mandatory" to own an assault rifle. If you are thinking of Switzerland, the truth is that Switzerland does not require citizens to own guns. The government issues a gun to men for their mandatory military service, but the gun is taken home under "carefully controlled conditions without ammunition." Even so, the rate of gun ownership in Switzerland is higher than in any other EU country. And the death rate from gun violence in Switzerland is considerably higher than in any other EU country, although far below the U.S. rate. The idea that it is mandatory somewhere is a complete figment of your imagination.
There may be a number of solutions to this.
But the first one is to get military assault weapons out of the hands of high school aged kids.
The second one is to stop selling them at every sporting goods store.
Anyone who thinks that would not help - at all - is a card carrying member of the NRA or receives large checks from that same organization during election time.
I think the right to not be shot and killed trumps the right to enjoy weekend target practice with a military weapon.
10
Apparently the late Justice Scalia was wrong. As we see the N.R.A. push its agenda to absurd lengths, always claiming 2nd Amendment protection, I begin to suspect that the U.S. Constitution really is a "suicide pact."
1
Sadly, those that want to harden schools are enabling the shooters. Once arming teachers is shown not to work, Mr. "NRA" LaPierre will want to arm students (K-12, colleges, then trade schools and daycare). That should be a lot of fun. "All right class, drop, roll, shoot." Body armor will be the latest fashion style. Schools are for showing children the wonders of the world, not the wonders of Kevlar.
4
I commend the author for a cogent and dramatically engaging argument. One thing that I found missing here, as in all of the discussions about arming teachers is an objective assessment of what might happen to bystanders near a hallway or classroom firefight. A number of years ago, an acquaintance invited me to go target shooting with him on his farm after he had bought a new deer rifle. He was using .308 caliber, controlled expansion hunting cartridges, the same caliber as NATO assault rifles, presumably including those favored by school shooters. As we were walking away from the house, he chose an impromptu target to demonstrate the power of his new weapon: a couple of standard, construction cinder blocks. The fist bullet passed through the front wall of the cinder block and reduced most of the back wall to dust and pebble sized rubble and buried itself deep into the embankment behind the blocks. Schemes to arm teachers that might create free fire zones in hallways will need to include retrofitting armor on the walls of school buildings to provide even a believable illusion of protection. Let's get serious. Arming teachers against school shooters makes about as much sense as "Duck and Cover" did against atomic bombs. The only realistic alternatives involve measures that attempt to prevent potentially bad actors from having guns in the first place. They won't be perfect, but they do provide a chance to improve the current situation.
19
Nope, the weapon of choice for school shooters has been the AR15 or its equivalent. This weapon fires a .223 caliber bullet. Not much larger than a .22 caliber gun but much more powerful as it is backed up with a lot more gun powder.
2
The proposal to arm teachers has been raised before but it is clearly an idea cooked up by the NRA which believes that more guns will make us safer. Even with police in a school, lockdown and drills make sense. The idea of having armed teachers sharing a day of instruction and cooperation with children and teenagers is insane.
As a former teacher and a veteran, I might have been the kind of candidate for such a program. I would have said keep your bonus but give me:
indemnification against any mishap with a firearm either at school or on the way either to school or from school,*
pay for my license for a concealed weapon,
pay to attend and compensation for proper training for use of a gun in a building with hundreds of bystanders,
pay for hours of practice on a shooting range,
issue me a first class firearm.
* N.B. When I was in the Navy, accidents with small arms was a leading cause of death and injury, just behind automotive accidents.
Of course, any concealed weapon is no match for a semi-automatic rifle and I doubt that anyone would want open carry in a school. A likely concealed weapon would be a .38 caliber short barreled detective special, an inaccurate, short ranged weapon and no match for anything like a rifle.
Finally, if I were carrying a weapon at some of the schools where I taught, I would be a target for someone who wanted to steal a firearm, including someone who wanted to harm others.
Police should be the only armed individuals in a school.
162
".. if I were carrying a weapon at some of the schools where I taught, I would be a target for someone who wanted to steal a firearm, including someone who wanted to harm others."
Exactly!
6
God bless your thinking!
5
Well reasoned and well expressed, both. I would only disagree with your thought that arming teachers is "an idea cooked up by the NRA which believes that more guns will make us safer". I don't think NRA leadership -
as opposed to its members - believes any such thing. I also don't think LaPierre & Co care one bit about making us safer. 50+ people dead in Las Vegas? 17 more in Parkland? Mere collateral damage in their war against restricting gun sales. If LaPierre & Co cared, at minimum they would heed the apparent wishes of their membership for more extensive and effective background checks. The NRA has no beliefs except more gun sales. They are an economic, gun-manufacturing lobbying machine hiding behind 2nd Amendment fears, tapping into and fomenting the paranoia of libertarians and anti-government right wingers. Like our president, they are frauds. I only hope that their power will be undermined if not destroyed if/when the FBI uncovers and makes clear Russian funding for this collection of cynical, uncaring NRA leaders.
Dear Ms. Nicolas,
I would like to thank you for the first sensible pronouncement I've seen to all the incomprehensible rhetoric flying like bullets. I am a mother of two students in a public school in a large city. People have sometimes asked me if I'm worried for their safety. I was initially, but my kids have learned how to navigate their urban environments. What happened in Florida does not seem navigable. Even as I write this, I realize how we settle back so quickly into the daily norm – school, work, life. But it's thoughts as smart and strong as yours that snap me back to what needs to be done, and sooner than later. Thanks for that!
40
The heartening thing about Parkland is that the students there took a look at "normal" and are standing up and saying "we're not going back there".
Thank you Ms. Nicolas.
We may learn that the armed guard at Parkland did not engage the shooter. Probably a prudent decision. Like the student on the Oregon campus with the gun in his backpack who chose not to engage the shooter because of all the uncertainties associated with a firefight.
LaPierre may have killed someone in a firefight and may be sure that his training guaranteed his success. Trump claims he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not loose any votes. We do not know what he thinks about engaging an active shooter on 5th Ave. How much bonus would you have to pay to guarantee that teachers armed with pistols run toward the machine gunner armed with LaPierre's infinite clips and bump stocks? A few hours training and a bonus..... The shooters will figure out how to kill many even with armed teachers in the halls. They don't do this to live another day.
Remember that the NRA profits from every bullet and that The GOP, between prayers, is handing out the ammo.
Instead of creating a de-militarized zone, the GOP wants everyone to be a soldier. More bullets and more money that way.
Never forget.
150
The trained resource officer did not make a prudent decision. He was the one person who would have had the best chance of at least limiting the casualties. His “prudent decision” was dereliction of duty, and rightfully so he has resigned, I would hope shamefully.
4
Amen, praise the lord, no ammunition necessary
1
Your comment is quite correct, albeit when it comes to the armed guard at Parkland having probably made "a prudent" decision by not engaging the shooter for a full 4 minutes, while the whole shooting spree only lasted 6 minutes.
I aways thought that armed guards at schools are supposedly the "first responders" to protect children from being mowed down
This armed police sergeant was hiding outside the school behind a column when hearing the first shots and stayed there.
4
"Yes, we need to arm our teachers." No! Hunting down a suicidal mass killer in a building full of frightened students is messy business. Pulling a trigger to take a life is not a defensive decision, it requires an offensive mindset few people, even fewer teachers, are set to make on a moment's notice. A few rounds/hours at an indoor gun range doesn't imbue the will with the will to kill.
A lot can go wrong. It is difficult to pivot from solving quadratic equations, finding examples of naturalism in short stories, or learning the stages of mitosis to running to a locked cabinet to shoulder a weapon to kill a unidentified person armed with a semiautomatic weapon of war.
Questions: what weapon is the appropriate choice? (My retired cop brother says a Smith & Wesson Model 60.) What ammunition? Vests or no vests? How do you control for collateral damage, wayward shots, crossfire hazards? Adrenalin creates a visual tunnel, how will teachers learn to scan the surroundings against this onslaught flooding the brain?
Who comforts and protects the kids as teachers stalk a killer in a live situation? Are armed teachers a deterrent when the mass shooter is often suicidal, as one parent noted?
Consider accuracy: police studies show an accuracy rate of only 25 to 35 percent in live stimulations, meaning 70 percent of the shots miss the target!
To fight gun control yet arm teachers with a lethal weapon is a violent draconian fantasy of Trump's that should never become policy.
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A final note: media reporting have ignored one of the most important points raised in yesterday's discussion, the importance of "safe passage," that recognizes in many cities, buildings are safe, but students are being killed on the way to and from schools.
The story of one DC parent who lost a son was heartbreaking. Hias son was shot in the head, as his brother was texting him a warning to beware of a violent attacker in his path; he knew because he had managed to escape the attempt to rob him--all over a cell phone.
Safe passage is an extension of the school experience. Too often students are targets of violence of being filmed in beat downs and gang attacks on the way home. Include the issue of safe passage in the discussion and find a solution for every parent's loss, if we can. Let's not turn our backs to the inner cities, because they are inner cities and the deaths accumulate at a slower rate. The loss is no less great.
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I agree. When police have a speed chase there is often other law abiding citizens hurt/killed by the reckless driving of the police or the criminal being chased. Recently in CA two little girls lost their life as the criminal trying to escape the police rammed their car. With guns there will be a similar effect, friendly fire shooting students in the crosshairs will occur.
The problem is the guns.
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Mr. Rhett,
You misunderstood the sentence, which admittedly, could have been better constructed. (I almost misinterpreted the way that you did, and I had to read it again to be sure.) The writer is saying, "[Instead of arming teachers with guns,] we need to arm our teachers ... with effective gun control, comprehensive background checks, better information-sharing," etc.
Of course, you make excellent arguments against the president and any others who support arming teachers with guns.
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Thank you for this excellent opinion piece labeling all the difficulties you foresee to "harden" what was designed to be soft and open - a school. I find placing butcher paper over a window no comfort whatsoever. I have no wish to see teachers armed in the classroom, either. It would be a combat zone with desks and student non-combatants still in harm way.
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There Sir i'm not American but i also thank you for your statment .i still can not belive in the words of your President about arming teachers
Or on the speech of NRA president about this issue..very sad . By the way : i'm an European citizen where we have a modern and safe civilization !
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